Markus Eisenbichler was euphoric, Karl Geiger grinned contentedly into the camera: One week after the provisional low point in Bischofshofen, Germany's ski jumpers have again shown an upward trend and secured second place in the team competition in Zakopane.

With Severin Freund, Stephan Leyhe, Eisenbichler and Geiger, the team of national coach Stefan Horngacher only had to admit defeat to the superior Slovenians on Saturday.

Japan, Austria and Norway ended up behind the German quartet this time.

"That was cool today. We know we are a good team. We're happy that we finished second," said Eisenbichler, who flew 141.5 meters in the second round, on ZDF. The guarantor for second place on the day was Geiger, who took a few points from the Four Hills Tournament winner Ryoyu Kobayashi with the last jump, so that the DSV quartet passed Japan. “The boys jumped really well. We were significantly improved today,” commented Horngacher. A week ago, the team suffered a heavy defeat with sixth place in Pongau.

"Karl scored a real goal again, that helped us a lot," said Horngacher.

Almost three weeks before the start of the Winter Olympics in Beijing (February 4th to 20th), the podium finish was also important mentally.

“Second place helps us a lot.

Karl has found the thread again, as he has to jump away from the table.

The others can follow the top jumpers in the slipstream,” said Horngacher.

"It was a very good team effort," agreed top man Geiger, who was "really happy".

For the athletes behind Geiger and Eisenbichler, it should also be about the coveted Beijing tickets in the singles on Sunday (4 p.m. / ZDF and Eurosport).

Three places are available for Leyhe, Freund, Pius Paschke, Constantin Schmid and Olympic champion Andreas Wellinger.

However, it remains to be seen whether Wellinger is physically enough.

The 26-year-old Bavarian left Poland prematurely after feeling a stab in his knee.

"As a precautionary measure, he will not start this weekend," tweeted the German Ski Association (DSV).

Wellinger tore his cruciate ligament in 2019 and has been struggling to keep up with the sport ever since.

He won gold on the normal hill at the 2018 Olympics.