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Andreas Wellinger in Lake Placid
Photo: Robert F. Bukaty/dpa
The ski jumpers Andreas Wellinger and Philipp Raimund flew onto the podium at the super team event in Lake Placid. The German duo took second place in the USA on Saturday (local time) and had to admit defeat to Stefan Kraft and Michael Hayböck from Austria, just 0.2 points behind - the equivalent of eleven centimeters. The team from Norway with Marius Lindvik and Johann Andre Forfang came third. Wellinger showed the longest jump of the competition in the final jump of 128 meters, which moved Germany up one place.
Around eight hours after his seventh place in the individual competition on Saturday morning (local time), Wellinger again had difficulties with the 1980 Olympic hill. With 119.0 and 122.0 Meher, the 28-year-old fell short of his potential in the first two rounds. With 128.0 meters in the final, Wellinger almost turned the competition on its head.
Wellinger can still make up ground in the World Cup
The strong Raimund, 16th in the individual, reached 120.5, 126.0 and 125.0 m and thus scored more points than his prominent teammate. Norway (793.6) came third behind Austria (809.2 points) and Germany (809.0).
In the “Super Team” format, two jumpers per team compete in three rounds each. In the men's World Cup, this competition was held for the first time in Lake Placid last year; Wellinger and Karl Geiger won the second competition in Rasnov/Romania. In the only Super Team of the current season, Wellinger and Stephan Leyhe took third place in Wisla. A super team competition is also planned for ski flying in Oberstdorf this winter.
Another individual competition will take place on Sunday (3:15 p.m. CET).
For Andreas Wellinger it's about continuing to collect points in the fight for the overall World Cup. He had unexpectedly achieved this in the first individual of the weekend. Six days after his victory at the home game in Willingen, the two-time Olympic champion had to settle for seventh place in the surprise victory of Slovenia's Lovro Kos. But World Cup leader Stefan Kraft from Austria, who led after the first round in Lake Placid and was on the verge of his seventh win of the season, was caught by a gust after the jump, then landed very early and fell back to 24th place - which meant Wellinger in the overall ranking gained ground.
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