The German ski jumpers feared behind the gang, in the end less than 20 centimeters were missing from victory: Pius Paschke, Stephan Leyhe, Markus Eisenbichler and final jumper Karl Geiger took second place in the thrilling team competition in Poland, which was influenced by difficult wind conditions. They only just had to admit defeat to the victorious Austrians in Wisla on Saturday. After the first round, the quartet of national coach Stefan Horngacher was still in fourth place. Third place went to the Slovenes, who had led before the last jump.
In front of several thousand enthusiastic fans who, for the most part, celebrated a big ski jumping party with loud stadium music and horns, without any distance or mask, the Germans did not get along so well at the beginning and were also unlucky. The difficult conditions and suboptimal jumps came together and ensured that the team from the German Ski Association was only fourth at half-time. After his jump to 107 meters, Eisenbichler shook his head angrily. But nothing was lost yet.
"Today is a difficult day, everyone has to make two decent jumps first," said Geiger after the first round on ARD and confidently added: "So let's wait and see." The Oberstdorfer was right. In the second round, Paschke (122.5 meters) and Leyhe (120.5) brought the Germans closer to first place. Eisenbichler followed up with an emotionally applauded set on 130 meters and the violinist, who has been so constant so far this winter, even made the victory almost perfect with his second jump on 125 meters.
Geiger and Eisenbichler in particular are showing impressive early form in this still young season. They can be expected again this winter, which includes numerous highlights in the Four Hills Tournament, the Winter Games in Beijing and the Ski Flying World Championship. In four individual competitions so far, the two Bavarian friends had given the German team five podium places. After the first team competition in 2021/22, an individual competition continues this Sunday.
David Siegel meanwhile won the first ski jumping on the big Olympic hill in Beijing. The 2016 junior world champion from Baiersbronn won the competition in the second-class Continental Cup with jumps of 131 and 129.5 meters. On the futuristic ski jumping hill in Zhangjiakou around 200 kilometers northwest of Beijing, which was completed in December 2020, four decisions will be made at the Winter Games in February, two of them in the Nordic Combined. The neighboring small ski jump was also officially inaugurated on Saturday. In the women's Continental Cup, Carina Vogt, who became the first ever Olympic champion in 2014 in Sochi, took third place. The victory went to the Russian Marija Jakowlewa.
Katharina Althaus brought the German ski jumpers their first World Cup victory since March 2019. The 25-year-old jumped 96 and 95.5 meters in Lillehammer, Norway.
She relegated the Austrian Marita Kramer and the Slovenian Ursa Bogataj to second and third place.
For Althaus it was the second place on the podium in the third competition of the Olympic winter.
Last weekend, the Oberstdorf woman finished third in Nizhny Tagil, Russia.
Juliane Seyfarth celebrated the last German individual victory on March 23, 2019 in Russia.
In addition to Althaus, Selina Freitag jumped into the points as 21st, Juliane Seyfarth as 22nd, Pauline Hessler as 23rd and Luisa Görlich on rank 24 from the German team.