Four Hills Tournament
Dream start for ski jumpers: Wellinger wins first qualification
Andreas Wellinger was able to win the qualification for the jumping in Oberstdorf. photo
© Daniel Karmann/dpa
Over 15,000 spectators and the German ski jumpers in top form: the first qualification for the Four Hills Tournament was successful. There will be even more hustle and bustle on Friday.
The German ski jumpers around qualification winner Andreas Wellinger have an ideal start to the season Four Hills Tournament completed.
Wellinger jumped 135 meters in front of an impressive backdrop in Oberstdorf, finishing just ahead of his teammate Karl Geiger, who came second with 134 meters. Philipp Raimund in fourth place, Pius Paschke in ninth place and Stephan Leyhe in twelfth place completed an excellent team result for national coach Stefan Horngacher’s team.
“That was a great warm-up, the results are exceptionally good. That’s very good for us,” said Horngacher. In front of 16,300 spectators – according to the organizers a record for ski jumping qualifications – the top favorites Austria’s Stefan Kraft (seventh place) and Japan’s Ryoyu Kobayashi (eighth) also had to admit defeat.
Horngacher actually saw the day as better practice. “We haven’t jumped for seven days,” noted the Austrian. Then things immediately went smoothly again. Youngster Raimund was particularly enthusiastic about the atmosphere. “Totally awesome. I’m looking forward to tomorrow even more, but even today is already a mega backdrop,” said the 23-year-old.
25th tour for Simon Ammann
One attraction of the event remains the Swiss Simon Ammann, who started his 25th tour. “The numbers don’t mean anything to me. It’s just great. I’m not really prepared for the volume. I’m really happy to take Oberstdorf with me,” said the 42-year-old on ARD.
With his jump of 119 meters, he had no problems qualifying for the competition this Friday (5.15 p.m./ARD and Eurosport). Then over 25,000 fans are expected at Schattenberg.