The praise came from a qualified mouth.

“Karl did it very well.

It was electrified. ”National coach Stefan Horngacher knew exactly that this competition would be a special one for Karl Geiger.

After all, it was his home jump on his home hill on Oberstdorf's Schattenberg, only a few hundred meters away from his home.

With a win like last year it didn't come off this time.

But more important than places are points in the fight for the Golden Eagle of the Four Hills Tournament.

These can be easily calculated in this cross-border ski jumping spectacle.

The difference in points divided by 1.8 gives the gap in meters.

Ralf Weitbrecht

Sports editor.

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Geiger, who has 295.9 points on his tour account, is 3.39 meters behind Ryoyu Kobayashi (302), who has now risen to the top favorite at the latest. The Japanese showed the competition the spectrum of his great ability with a splendid second jump. 141 meters - it was the set of the day on a day when clouds poured over Oberstdorf again and made the extremely exciting and attractive competition a very special challenge. "I was happy that the shortening time was repeated," said Geiger about the jury's strategy of repeatedly sending individual jumpers out of other hatches into the inrun lane. Geiger jumped 131 meters, but lost hardly anything on Kobayashi because of the bonus points. "The jump was good, but it wasn't as good as I can."

What Geiger can do, he will still be able to show extensively in the coming days. The hunt between the places and countries continues at a high pace. Yesterday in Oberstdorf, today Garmisch-Partenkirchen, then Innsbruck and for the final on Epiphany in Bischofshofen. "We're going to Garmisch with a good feeling," said national coach Horngacher in his analysis later that evening. "It was a pretty good number today."

The 52-year-old Tyrolean was pleased that two other athletes from his ambitious team, Markus Eisenbichler (7th) and Stephan Leyhe (9th), made it into the top ten. Horngacher regretted the disqualification of Severin Freund, whose suit was criticized by the inspectors. “Severin was already upset. But he is a full professional, he can handle it. ”The trainer asked for understanding that not only the Germans, but also the other nations are working on the material extensively before and for the tour. "With the suits you have to be at the limit, otherwise you have no chance," said Horngacher.

Does Geiger have a chance of winning the Four Hills Tournament?

Of course.

Nothing is lost, everything is still possible.

“Karl was very tense.

Already in the preparation for the imitations it wasn't quite as fine a blade as usual. But now he can approach the matter more easily, "said the national coach, who knew:" He mastered a difficult situation superbly. "