The Raw Air is merciless and unforgiving of mistakes. Yesterday Stephan Leyhe, today Karl Geiger and Philipp Raimund: The Germans are not immune to setbacks either. On Friday, when the Norwegians’ tough tour started with qualification in the capital, the weather was great in the Kingdom. On Saturday, however, when the first competition on the Bakken at Holmenkollen started in the early afternoon, things went haywire.
Tailwind, crosswind, upwind – it’s all there. A special challenge for the ski jumpers. Conditions at the limit and sometimes at the limit. And with consequences: the stumbling German trio is out of the question for victory at Raw Air, which will be determined in a week after the big flight finale in Vikersund.
Leyhe, who came 52nd in the qualification on Friday, which also counts for the Raw Air overall ranking, was not allowed to take part in the wind show the next day and was therefore unable to collect any important perspective points, nor were Geiger and Raimund.
“Very turbulent competition”
Final stop of the first round. Geiger and Philipp fell victim to the cut. “My jump was rubbish,” said the Oberstdorf violinist, who has been looking for the form of old successful days for many weeks and especially for a “knot remover”, as he said at Holmenkollen. Teammate Constantin Schmid came last, barely making it into the field of the 30 best.
But neither he nor Andreas Wellinger and Pius Paschke could have any influence. None of the Germans made it into the top ten. The hope of perhaps having an important say at the Raw Air was severely dampened right at the start of the ski jumping series in Oslo.
“Unfortunately we haven’t improved much compared to training,” said Stefan Horngacher. The national coach of the German Ski Association spoke of a “very turbulent competition with constantly different wind conditions” at the ski jump. If you don’t jump well, the mistakes multiply.”
Paschke 14th, Wellinger 20th, Schmid 28th – to the extent that the Germans jumped behind on Saturday, the neighbors showed how it’s done. Austria in front. Once again. And it was no surprise that Stefan Kraft coped best with the adverse weather conditions. The leader in the overall World Cup, helped a little by better conditions at the right time, jumped to the top in the second round with 133 meters.
The majority of the judges were impressed by the way the ski flying world champion showed poise and rewarded his jump with three 20 points. Kraft was the winner of the day, his teammates Jan Hörl (3rd), Michael Hayböck (5th) and Daniel Huber (7th) rounded off the lucky day.
Ralf Weitbrecht, Oslo Published/Updated: Recommendations: 3 Ralf Weitbrecht Published/Updated: Ralf Weitbrecht, Bad Mitterndorf Published/Updated:
Paschke, the best German on this meteorologically demanding day of ski jumping, found the right words for the demands placed on the Raw Air with its total of 16 jumps. “These are very rough conditions,” said the team senior. “With room for improvement.”