Karl Geigers blackout in Innsbruck

METERto the Glücksberg, sometimes the mountain of destiny. Once again, Bergisel played a decisive role in the fight for the Tour victory. And once again, hopes that 19 years after Sven Hannawald’s Grand Slam victory, the winner of the Four Hills Tournament will come from Germany have been reduced to a minimum. Karl Geiger, who took second place overall in the infamous Bergisel ski jump in Innsbruck in the inrun, has almost no chance of finishing first in the last competition on Wednesday at Bischofshofen due to a completely failed first jump.

There’s Kamil Stoch after his famous competition on Sunday. The great Polish ski jumper, a two-time tour winner, used not only Geiger’s temporary loss, but also previous leader Halvor Egner Granerud’s, to take the lead in the rankings. There Stoch is 15.2 points ahead of fellow Garmisch-Partenkirchen winner Dawid Kubacki, followed by Granerud, Geiger and Markus Eisenbichler, who are 20.6, 24.7 and 33.4 points behind Stoch.

Stoch won at Bergisel ahead of Slovenian Anze Lanisek, who had been a strong player in recent weeks, and his compatriot Kubacki. Geiger finished sixteenth. The best German was Eisenbichler, who also got off to a weak start to the competition, but at least finished sixth at the end.

Granerud also shows nerves

It was a jump full of ups and downs. World ski flight champion Geiger prevailed in his knockout duel against four-time Swiss Olympic champion Simon Ammann, the idol of his youth. But only 117 meters was little to consolidate his second place. At this point, the Oberstdorfer fell back to fourth in the overall standings as 30th in the first round, 19.8 points behind Stoch.

Granerud also showed nervousness. The Norwegian, who had won the test an hour earlier and believed he was still on his month-long flow, inadvertently followed Geiger and landed after 116.5 meters. Granerud, as frustrated and angry as Geiger, entered the top 30 final. Eisenbichler, alongside Oberstdorf winner Geiger, Germany’s second great hope, overall did slightly better than his friend Geiger. But 120.5 meters and 16th place after the first round were not enough to dream of great success. “Things are as good as it gets,” Geiger said, referring to the overall ranking after tough competition at ARD. “It’s just frustrating.”

The fight for the Golden Eagle, which the best of the four individual competitions will host on Wednesday night in Bischofshofen, has led mainly to strong Poles since the difficult competition in Innsbruck. At the Bergisel, Stoch and Kubacki took advantage of the opportunity and the mistakes of the competitors to differentiate themselves. “It was a great day today,” said Stoch, 33, the oldest and most experienced of the five jumpers in the general classification. “The team performed well today.”

It is hard to imagine if the 69th edition of the Four Hills Tournament would have taken place without the Poles. Due to an obviously falsely positive crown test, initially excluded from qualifying at the start in Oberstdorf, there was great resistance to the impending finale in ski jumping mad Poland. The decision was reversed after two negative test results. “It’s good that the best in the world are there,” said Stefan Horngacher. The national coach, who used to be very successful as a coach for the Poles, has yet to give up after the setback at Bergisel. “The jumps in the first round were just not good enough,” he said, complaining in his analysis that the training preparation for the third jump was not optimal. “Now we have to see what else can happen.” But: “The victory on the tour is very far,” he said.

Both Geiger and Eisenbichler can advance even further in the overall standings. They have the potential for it, as they demonstrated with their good second jumps over the Bergisel. Both reached 128.5 meters each. Stoch (127.5 and 130 meters) and Kubacki (126 and 127 meters), however, jumped in both rounds in dimensions that are known from the Poles and that earned them the points to establish themselves as a double top in the general classification. Eisenbichler was combative after the competition in Innsbruck. “I want to attack,” promised the 29-year-old from Siegsdorf. “It was a brutally tough competition today, but I came out with a black eye.”

In fact, Eisenbichler narrowed the gap a bit. However: Everything has to be fine in Bischofshofen so that Geiger, who is 14 meters from Stoch, can take over the big shot. “It’s a flying hill,” said Eisenbichler, the emotional jumper who especially likes when he goes high and far. In Paul-Ausserleitner-Schanze, unlike Bergisel, Geiger would have to remain absolutely error free. “I missed a train there and it was too late,” Geiger said. “I did not reach the limit in an optimal way.”

It’s part of the dramaturgy of the tour that you need eight good jumps to be part of the battle for the Golden Eagle. Geiger and Eisenbichler almost catapulted out of the race with a failed jump over Bergisel, a mountain of destiny, who lived two years ago at the Nordic World Ski Championships. But only almost. “You should never give up,” Eisenbichler said.