The “Super Team” was the turning point: Philipp Raimund also confirmed his strong form in the individual in Lake Placid. He crowned his great weekend with his first podium finish in his career on Sunday (February 11, 2024).
The day before, Raimund and Andreas Wellinger in the “Super Team” were only 0.2 points short of the day’s success, but it was still a lucky day for Raimund. He was the second best jumper in this competition and in the individual he also came back into the top regions. With 127 meters he jumped to fourth place in the first round and was really happy. After 135 meters with the second jump, he let his emotions run wild after landing.
Result – Ski Jumping in Lake Placid Arrow right Result – Men’s Overall World Cup Arrow right
This outstanding distance was actually enough for second place – tied with Lovro Kos. The victory once again went to World Cup leader Stefan Kraft. “The result on Saturday gave me a lot of momentum. I just found out that I can trust myself a lot more and just do my thing,” said Raimund in the Sportschau interview.
First Wellinger jump fails
With a bad first jump, Wellinger ruined a top ranking early on. If the best German athlete of the winter still had any hopes of winning the overall World Cup, they are now likely to have been dashed. With 120 meters, Wellinger was in 16th place at halftime, but in the end he was still enough for sixth place thanks to a strong improvement to 129.5 meters. Kraft thus extended its lead to 209 points.
Stephan Leyhe achieved a remarkable success, working his way to 13th place in the first round with 123 meters and even coming twelfth with 125.5 meters. Felix Hoffmann was the fourth DSV jumper to make it to the final. With 116.5 and 118 meters, the 26-year-old finished 26th and was happy about his next World Cup points.
Debacle for Geiger and Paschke
On his 31st birthday, Karl Geiger experienced a competition to forget. After landing at just 112 meters, he hit his head with both hands and knew that the day was over for him – in 37th place he clearly missed the second round. And the next setback for the DSV team came promptly: Pius Paschke also fell to just 113 meters and did not get past 35th place.
“The jump wasn’t good. That’s bitter, I had planned it differently. That really annoys me,” said Geiger, who didn’t want to use the difficult conditions as an excuse. “It was 100 percent my own fault.”
Thanks to their outstanding performances at the start of the season, Geiger and Paschke are still among the best jumpers in the overall World Cup. Before the competition on Sunday, Geiger was in seventh place, Paschke even fifth – but these values do not correspond to their current form. They proved this repeatedly in Lake Placid. Even though Geiger still managed to finish twelfth on Saturday.
500cc club now with two members
Simon Ammann was also only allowed to do one jump on Sunday because he came 40th with only 109 meters – it was still a holiday for him. After Noriaki Kasai (569 World Cups), the Swiss is now the only athlete in the history of ski jumping to have at least 500 career starts. Ammann was honored for this immediately after his landing.
“There are only two who have over 500 World Cup starts, that’s a big number. I can’t remember all of them, some I would have liked to have canceled, some were really brilliant. It’s always been a difficult sport,” he said the 42-year-old, who made his debut in 1997, in the Sportschau interview.