Skisprung world champion Karl Geiger jumped straight onto the podium at the Raw Air Tour in Norway, but continues to lose ground in the overall World Cup. The 29-year-old from Allgäu took third place in Lillehammer on Thursday after jumps of 135 and 134.5 meters and was only beaten by Austria’s winner of the day, Stefan Kraft, and Ryoyu Kobayashi from Japan. Kobayashi thus also defended his yellow jersey for the overall leader and extended his lead by a further 20 points to 63.
Behind Geiger, Markus Eisenbichler (6th), Constantin Schmid (12th), Severin Freund (18th) and Stephan Leyhe (26th) also made it into the second round.
In the women’s jumping, Katharina Althaus made it to tenth place after surviving the corona infection. Marita Kramer from Austria won the day and extended her overall lead in the World Cup.
Wellinger: “Nothing brought together”
The Pyeongchang Olympic champion Andreas Wellinger did not make a successful comeback. The 26-year-old did not get past 118.5 meters and only ended up in 41st place in the first individual. “It’s just kind of an upper body, pull your arms and then put them on the skis,” Wellinger commented on ZDF. “I know that I can ski jump much better. I didn’t bring anything together yesterday and today.”
The 2018 Olympic champion had tested positive for the corona virus shortly before the Winter Games in Beijing and was subsequently not nominated for the competitions in China. More competitions are scheduled for the next three days at the Holmenkollen in Oslo. Next week the Ski Flying World Championships are waiting in Vikersund.
