The German ski jumpers led by qualification winner Andreas Wellinger have made an ideal start to the Four Hills Tournament. Wellinger jumped 135 meters in front of an impressive backdrop in Oberstdorf on Thursday, 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 in 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.
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 this Friday’s competition. Then over 25,000 fans are expected at Schattenberg.
On Friday (5.15 p.m./ARD and Eurosport) the jumpers will compete in knockout duels in Oberstdorf as usual. Who jumps against whom? An overview (the number in brackets indicates the placement in the qualification):
Andreas Wellinger (1/Ruhpolding) – Kasperi Valto (50/Finland)
Karl Geiger (2/Oberstdorf) – Erik Belshaw (49/USA)
Philipp Raimund (4/Oberstdorf) – Svyatoslav Nazarenko (47/Kazakhstan)
Pius Paschke (9/Kiefersfelden) – Junshiro Kobayashi (42/Japan)
Stephan Leyhe (12/Willingen) – Aleksander Zniszczol (39/Poland)