High-flyer Pius Paschke simply continued to win, then Andreas Wellinger also won: The German ski jumpers continued their furious flight on the second weekend of the World Cup winter in Kuusamo, Finland. “If someone had told me that before, I would have signed it straight away,” said national coach Stefan Horngacher on ZDF.
First, oldie Paschke took his second win of the season on Saturday, then 24 hours later Wellinger took the eighth win of his career in just one round. Karl Geiger even secured a German double podium in third place. Paschke only finished seventh this time, but he retained the yellow jersey of the leader in the overall World Cup. “Pius is in top form, he jumps really well,” said Horngacher, but also praised Wellinger: “Everything went well. Great flight, great landing. He was the worthy winner.”
Wellinger was in the lead after a strong first jump of 146.5 m, the second round was canceled after 15 jumpers due to increasing wind. “That was cool. It was a difficult competition, also for the jury. When it came to me, I was there,” said the Bavarian. For Wellinger it was the first victory since the triumph in Willingen in February and the eighth of his career.
This continued the DSV dream start: the last time there were three German victories in the first four competitions was 24 years ago, when Martin Schmitt dominated. The violinist, who has also strengthened, took care of the German double podium as a crowning achievement. “It feels really good and was fun,” said the Allgäu native.
Paschke continued his series of podiums on Saturday with a victory ahead of the Austrians Jan Hörl and Kraft. “I’m having a lot of fun jumping right now. It’s a bit like childhood, it just works. My jumps are really at a high level,” said the veteran. On Sunday, in difficult conditions, it wasn’t enough for the podium for the first time this winter.
The remaining DSV Adler experienced a weekend with light and shadow. Former world champion Markus Eisenbichler (Siegsdorf), who was eighth on Saturday, achieved his weakest result of the season so far on Sunday in 43rd place. Philipp Raimund (Oberstdorf/37th and 26th) was happy about World Cup points, as was Adrian Tittel (Aue/24th and 33rd). Stephan Leyhe (Willingen), on the other hand, came away empty-handed twice.
The freezing rain caused problems on Sunday as it stuck to the track and reduced the starting speed. Because the jury extended the inrun late, numerous prominent names fell by the wayside in the first round: The Norwegian Halvor Egner Granerud, former winner of the Four Hills Tournament, landed after 71.5 m, Michael Hayböck (Austria) only managed 70, 0 m.
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