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Mount Doom: Do you still know him? Exactly the one from “The Lord of the Rings.” Mount Doom in Mordor – The volcano in whose chambers of fire the Ring of Power was forged and later destroyed. The Bergisel ski jump in Innsbruck has been approached in the same way in recent years. Although it is much more enjoyable in Tyrol, it is susceptible to the wind and it has already cost several jumpers to win the tour. And the destinations sealed again this year.
The result: Maybe Kamil Stoch’s. Despite all the hustle and bustle, he’s gearing up to win his third tour after finishing second, fourth and now one in Innsbruck, keyword close to exclusion from the crown. His teammate and defending champion Dawid Kubacki, who crossed the finish line in second, could get in his way. After Anze Lanisek (Slovenia) in fourth place, Piotr Zyla followed: The Poles are this year, and the JRRTolkien comparison fits quite well in the figurative sense, the giant eagles of the Four Hills Tournament.
The first race: It had some surprises in store when the sky was cloudy and the air was warm. For example, that of the leader of the general and first in the classification: Halvor Egner Granerud rolled on sawdust while stretching and warming up near the trampoline due to lack of snow. He seemed calm as he shuffled toward the jump, and then he probably didn’t really know what was happening to him. He finished 29th and second to last, after all, ahead of the last Karl Geiger, who until then had been his first chaser in the general classification.
The second pass: He made at least a couple of attempts to catch up, like Granerud’s at 15th, but no more surprises.
And the Germans? After a weak first round, as Markus Eisenbichler put it, “he came out with a black eye.” Karl Geiger missed the jump, he corrected a lot and only landed at 117 meters. He shook his head vehemently and cursed, with anger in his stomach at least he got a decent second round, it was similar with Eisenbichler. Sixth and sixteenth place at the end, a considerable deficit in the overall ranking: Hopes for a German overall victory, the first after Sven Hannawald in 2002, are, once again, probably thrown on the mountain of fate in Innsbruck.
Already seen: This has happened to the jumpers of the German Ski Federation (DSV) recently. In the last three years, Geiger (2020), Eisenbichler (2019) and Richard Freitag (2018) had also traveled to Tirol as the second overall on the tour, and they missed their chances here.
Words for Sunday: “Being like that again this year just makes you throw up. Sorry for the choice of words, ”Geiger grumbled on Eurosport TV. My colleague Eisenbichler saw it similarly: “Bergisel is just a stupid pig every now and then.”
And now? First there is a rest day before qualifying at Bischofshofen in Salzburger Land on Tuesday and the Epiphany jump on Wednesday (4.45pm / TV: ZDF and Eurosport) the glory of the crown and, Tolkien sends his regards again, the return of the King Kamil after the last victory of the tour. 2018 should bring. Stoch’s advantage over Kubacki in the general classification is 15.2 points, the equivalent of about 7.5 meters. The gap between Granerud (+20.6) and Geiger (+24.7) is even greater, you would have to do about 10 and 12 meters respectively at Stoch in two jumps. Hard to imagine given the constancy of Poland. But who knows. Before the last battle in “The Lord of the Rings” she seemed pretty desperate for the hobbits.
