Karl Geiger showed both fists and roared all his relief into the Zakopane night sky.

With the second place in the ski jumping singles in Poland, Germany's number one in the absolute elite has reported back.

“Karl recovered really well.

Today he showed two very good jumps.

Second place will certainly do him good,” said national coach Stefan Horngacher.

Only Marius Lindvik from Norway was stronger on Sunday.

Japan's Ryoyu Kobayashi faltered in fourth but retained the overall leader's jersey.

Less gratifying than Geiger's achievements was the message that the German Ski Association (DSV) had already sent on Saturday morning.

Olympic champion Andreas Wellinger left Poland prematurely because he felt a stitch in his knee when landing after a jump.

"As a precautionary measure, he will not start this weekend," said the association about the 26-year-old, who has been fighting for a sporting connection since his cruciate ligament rupture in June 2019.

For Wellinger, who initially had no diagnosis, the setback came at an inopportune time.

It was only this season that Wellinger once again achieved top ranks, but is still a long way from the top results of earlier times.

In addition, for the gold winner of 2018 in Zakopane it was actually about the qualification, which is not a matter of course for him within the team.

Meanwhile, Markus Eisenbichler can plan well for Beijing, even if he fell below his potential in the individual on Sunday with tenth place. When it came to second place in the team competition, "Eisei" was one of the guarantors and managed a fabulous flight of 141.5 meters. "That was cool today. We know we are a good team. We're happy that we finished second," said Eisenbichler. Despite Geiger's strong form, the team competition should be the greatest of all medal chances in Beijing.

Behind him, Team World Champion Severin Freund, who had been jumping in the Continental Cup until Christmas, also advertised himself at the Olympics. Freund was first part of the podium quartet alongside Eisenbichler, Geiger and Stephan Leyhe, then the 33-year-old also impressed in the individual with 20th place on the day. His direct competition Leyhe (31st), Constantin Schmid (37th) and Pius Paschke (46th). ) left Freund clearly behind. "Unfortunately, the three of them didn't make good jumps," said head coach Horngacher on ZDF.

Two home games in Titisee-Neustadt and Willingen are still waiting before the Winter Games in Beijing.

Horngacher was relieved that his jumpers left the defeat in Bischofshofen and the disappointing performance in the tournament behind them.

“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 after the team competition.

In the singles, it was only Geiger who was able to keep up with the absolute best in the world.