[ad_1]
Thanks to his incredible strong nerves, Karl Geiger became a world ski champion in Planica, and his thoughts were with his pregnant wife. It could be the winter of the Oberstdorfers.
Karl Geiger finally rested, perhaps the most haunting day of his life, while having a cold beer with his colleagues at the Kompas team hotel. At the Planica World Championships hours earlier, he had become the king of skiing by flying in a true mountain thriller, at his home in Oberstdorf his first child could be born at any time; Such excess of emotions left even the brilliant “Karle” speechless.
“Everything is just amazing,” said the 27-year-old from Allgäu after his first big singles title: “And that in flight, no one would have expected me to do that, Kleinschanzen-Karle is world champion in flying ski.”
It was amazing how Geiger, more of a man for compact and short bakks, delivered his masterpiece on the massive Letalnica, how he did the two main favorites, Norway’s Halvor Egner Granerud and his best jumping friend Markus Eisenbichler, mercilessly. referred to the rank of silver and bronze. “If it counts, I push it and risk full throttle. That can go wrong,” Geiger said with a smile, “but mostly it’s okay.”
Planica was in the “mostly” category, but it was incredibly close. With the competition’s penultimate jump at a whopping 243.0m, Granerud had increased the pressure on the violinist, who had been leading since the first of four rounds, immeasurably. But Geiger responded in his World Cup flying debut (two years ago at home in Oberstdorf he had to look sadly as a substitute), he sailed 231.5m, and was half a point ahead.
Karl Geiger: 40 centimeters ahead after four flights
After a total of 936.5 meters in the air, Geiger made the equivalent of 40 centimeters ahead of the world champion. His wife Franziska, who married Geiger in September and is heavily pregnant with their daughter, is likely to have a threatening pulse at home. “Could be,” Geiger said laughing at ZDF.
“I give the title to Karle from the bottom of my heart,” Eisenbichler’s roommate said. On Saturday, the great world hill champion was jumping: he won the title in Innsbruck in 2019 ahead of Geiger, together they won at the time in the team competition, about 15 meters apart: “But I don’t give a shit if I finish third, fourth or fifth. I’m very happy for Karle. “
This “Teufels-Karl”, as the newspaper from his hometown in Allgäu called it, also astonished Stefan Horngacher. “We drove here with an Eisenbichler in top form, which he also confirmed as third. But then Karl comes out of the box and wins the world championship title. Words are a bit lacking,” said the Austrian.
Geiger had received the freedom of choice from Horngacher during the “double burden” as a future father and the hope of ski jumping. The last time he saved the World Cup trip to Russia to be with his wife. “Karl is now free in his head,” the coach said afterward. In Planica, Geiger drew strength from family support, on the hill “I can fully concentrate, I go into a tunnel.”
Now he is a world champion in flight skiing, he will soon be a father; It could be Karl Geiger’s winter, especially as two highlights await in Oberstdorf: the start of the Four Hills Tournament on December 29 and the Nordic World Championship on February 23. I didn’t want to think so far about this great night in Planica: “At the moment I am incredibly happy.
[ad_2]
