Karl Geiger cheered exuberantly, Markus Eisenbichler was just 5.5 centimeters short: The German ski jumpers narrowly missed the desired podium places in the snow flurry in Lahti, but still made a decent start in the final World Cup phase of the season in the first individual. Eisenbichler (127 and 125 meters) took fourth place on Friday, his buddy and roommate Geiger (122 and 127.5 meters) was fifth just behind him and thus defended his yellow jersey, which stood out the most in the dense turbulence of Finland.
In Lahti, where the qualification had to be canceled due to the difficult weather conditions, it was a matter of tenths of a point and centimeters, just like Eisenbichler. It was very close – but only from second place. Because the Austrian Stefan Kraft won with a lead of about 15 points, who duped the competition with flights on 124.5 and 131 meters. The hill on which he won two individual World Championships and two more World Championship medals in the team in 2017 is very strong.
For Geiger, in the phase after Beijing, direct comparisons with the Japanese Ryoyu Kobayashi are always important. Before the World Cup in Lahti he was three points ahead of the Tournament winner in the overall World Cup. Now it’s twelve because Kobayashi didn’t get past seventh place this time. After a team competition on Saturday, the weekend before the Raw Air Tour in Norway ends with another individual competition on Sunday.
The competition on Friday already showed how hard Geiger and Kobayashi duel. The opponents jumped exactly the same distance in both rounds, but the 29-year-old from the Allgäu received better marks in the second round and had to contend with somewhat more difficult conditions. That was enough to land just ahead of Kobayashi. Behind Kraft, Norway’s Halvor Egner Granerud and Poland’s Piotr Zyla completed the podium.
Severin Freund (15th) and Constantin Schmid (16th) also scored World Cup points for the team of national coach Stefan Horngacher. Former singles world champion Freund was absent in Beijing because he failed to meet the norm. During the weeks at home, the 33-year-old said on ARD: “It was super nice. I used the time with my family and come back rested.” His biggest goal of the season wasn’t the Olympics anyway, but the Ski Flying World Championships in Vikersund, Norway, which take place from March 11th to 13th.
