Karl Geiger analyzes his mistake and marks the victory in the Four Hills Tournament

Even one day after the Bergisel jump, Karl Geiger cannot really understand what deprived him of all chances to win the Four Hills Tournament on Sunday in Innsbruck.

“I didn’t understand what happened there,” said the 27-year-old DSV jumper, describing the moments after his first jump, which he had only set at 117 meters.

From favorite tour partner to defeated, that worried him. “Before that I was thinking to myself: if not now, then when?” Geiger explained his emotional roller coaster: “After that it hit me quite a bit.”

Especially the “why” bothered him a lot. After a night in a hotel in Innsbruck and a bug analysis, the now only fourth in the overall ranking is at least a little smarter.

“It was a chain of unfortunate circumstances,” Geiger said: “The jump was not ideal, we don’t need to talk about that. But it was better than the first race at Garmisch.” At Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Geiger was 14th after the first round, but was able to save himself in 5th with a good second jump.

He was unsuccessful in Innsbruck. The bottom line: at Bergiselschanze it’s just “brutal if you make little mistakes. Then it drags you down the slope and you stay down there and you don’t understand the world anymore. That’s bitter and hard to accept.” As a result, that meant only intermediate rank 30. Without a knockout format, Geiger would have even been eliminated.

“Mentally, maybe he was not completely in line and a little behind when he jumped,” said national coach Stefan Horngacher, analyzing Geiger’s fatal jump.

The fact that tailwind conditions awaited him after a slightly delayed jump into the air had increased the loss of distance. “The Bergisel is a difficult hill where you cannot make mistakes. So the hill is very scattered, even if it is very small,” Geiger said.

Like the 30th of the first round, he had to return quickly after a very short preparation phase. Just 34 minutes after the first jump, he was back on the beam. His glasses fogged up, everything was not optimal. However, Geiger suddenly landed again in the top category of people at 128.5 meters (fourth place in the second round).

“What really put me fox was that in the second lap, without the ideal preparation, I achieved a smart jump that was 11.5 meters more,” he said on Monday regretful. All in all, the messy competition in Innsbruck with only 16th place “is a bitter pill that I have to swallow. But I face it. It has often happened that I had to wade through the mud and now I will march for it.”

For the final competition in Bischofshofen (Wednesday 4:45 pm live on Eurosport), he no longer has the tour evaluation as he is 24.7 points behind leader Kamil Stoch.

Overall rating: that’s how it is at the Four Hills tournament

“I have to stop looking at the general classification,” said the world champion in flying skiing: “Sure, it only ends when the last one has landed below. But a lot would have to happen for you to catch up with the Poles up there. I would have to spend a lot of money and I rate them too well for that. They are outstanding athletes. “

Ideally, Geiger can still intercept last year’s winner Dawid Kubacki and World Cup leader Halvor Egner Granerud and thus achieve his best result on the tour in second place after finishing third last year. Kubacki is 9.5 points ahead of Geiger, Granerud 4.1. The year before, Geiger finished second behind Kubacki at Bischofshofen.

“I’ll give it my all, mobilize all the remaining strength and then I’ll see what comes out,” Geiger said: “It will be another challenge. Not a sure hit. I have to regenerate well and get off my head. I need easy jumps.”

Four Hills Tournament in Bischofshofen live on television and live

The Paul-Ausserleitner-Schanze in Bischofshofen is a facility that cannot be compared to anything, “because it has such a long and flat access, almost like a motorway”. First of all, “it starts at a leisurely pace, but you have to compose yourself so you don’t lose the jump.” But at the bottom you can “slide very well”. Good for a world ski flight champion.

However, in the end the following applies: “The quality of the jump is decisive”. And it wants to “re-show the jumps that I can show.”

The Four Hills Tournament 2020/21: All jumps – qualifying and competition – in Oberstdorf (December 28 / December 29), Garmisch-Partenkirchen (December 31 / January 1), Innsbruck (January 2 / January 3 ) and Bischofshofen (January 5 / January 6). ) LIVE on free TV on Eurosport 1 and on Eurosport on Joyn!

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