Four Hills Tournament: Geiger still has chances – sport

Actually everything was quiet around Oberstdorf’s Schattenbergschanze. She lay peacefully at the foot of the snow-capped peaks. The tourists, who are not allowed in the stadium, roamed through the pedestrian zone, while locals made their way to the secret places at the edges of the forest and on hills, from which one has a reasonable view of the ski jump even in Corona times. Mountains, silence and even a soft winter sun – there was nothing to indicate what would happen in the evening without a thunderous audience.

The opening competition of the Four Hills Tournament was so varied that you can hardly imagine how it will be surpassed at the next stations in Garmisch-Partenkirchen and in Austria. It went back and forth, back and forth for the ski jumpers. And in the end, this evening featured six leading actors – five top people and the wind, plus several unlucky fellows in the supporting roles. The five jumpers, the Japanese winner Ryoyu Kobayashi, the three Norwegians Halvor Egner Granerud, Robert Johansson, Marius Lindvik, and fifth-placed Karl Geiger from Oberstdorf all still have a chance of overall victory. Geiger’s distance to Kobayashi is 6.1 points, which corresponds to about 3.38 meters on landing.

After the first round, the usual hierarchy from the World Cup was mixed up, and the showdown of the last started with the currently most stable and elegant player, Ryoyu Kobayashi. In fifth place after the first round, he probably didn’t think about it for long, but went on an attack. He jumped out of the take-off table so bravely that he got into higher air zones. Because Kobayashi can switch from jumping to flying more inconspicuously than anyone else, he hardly lost any speed. He floated along like a swift, but how could that be possible? Despite the tail wind that was blowing all the time?

In fact, the Japanese was lucky at that moment, because when he was sitting upstairs, there was suddenly no wind. The jury tried to compensate for the better air with less run-up: because everyone else had been pushed down early by the tail wind in flight, the last jumpers should, in fairness, have less run-up and thus less speed in flight. The problem – the wind did what it wanted. When Kobayashi jumped, there was even a very slight updraft, but the bar had only been moved one place down to number 18. And when you finally found the right twist, the air masses ended their breathing space and it blew down from the foghorn again.

This was the decisive moment for the main actor, at least from the point of view of the local lapwing on the hills: It was Karl Geiger’s turn, the jury had long since determined start gate 16, but the wind was already blowing noticeably from behind at 0.31 meters. So it was the moment when the Oberstdorfer could have missed his great chance. However, he lifted off a bit angularly but effectively and lay down on his thin air cushion, even if it felt like a floor below Kobayashi. Then Kobayashi’s green line came into view, Geiger pulled out everything that the flow still allowed, but didn’t quite make it.

On the other hand – he kept the connection. This could have something to do with the fact that Geiger is less of an emotional than a rational jumper. Nobody knows this hill better than him, it was his big chance that was just dwindling, everyone would probably get hectic there. Even Geiger, Horngacher observed, “was very tense today”. At that moment, however, he succeeded in doing the most essential things, perhaps also because, as his trainer thinks, he is “a worker type”, someone who analyzes every change, every influence and incorporates it into the design of his jump.

Such types of competition may not look brilliant, but they are capable of constant performance. Geiger has been able to do this for three years, the Norwegians, on the other hand, used to be more susceptible until they hit a permanent high again in December. And the team of the Austrian head coach Alexander Stöckl now also appeared as a strong block in the final. Three of his best were almost always in the top ten over the winter. Now they were close to the podium again, with one minor change: Daniel Andre Tande was missing, but Robert Johansson was suddenly one of the favorites. Nevertheless – the longest leaps are still Stöckl’s best, namely Halvor Egner Granerud, the counter-model to Karl Geiger.

Granerud continues to spin diagonally downwards – but is successful

While the German wants to optimize every movement, Granerud has been doing his thing more intuitively for a long time, which Stöckl is also questionable. But what should he do? A successful jumper shouldn’t be reeducated. Granerud still has a youthful taste. When jumping, he sometimes pulls his left foot and puts weight on his right leg, whereupon the left ski “smears”, as Stöckl says. The bad old habit likes to have an impact in stressful situations, but so far without affecting the result.

So there will still be a while to admire Granerud’s inclines, with which the man from Oslo spins down almost diagonally like a plane with an adjusted autopilot and then touches down on the right next to the gang. But right, left or in the middle – it doesn’t matter where you land, the main thing is in the snow and elegant, and that’s why Granerud is second behind Kobayashi after Oberstdorf, 2.8 points behind.

Granerud, the 25-year-old instinct jumper, is currently the opposite of the already beaten top people on this tour. Earlier than usual, probably also because of the intense competition this winter, some prominent losers have already been determined. Kamil Stoch, the defending champion, only got 118 meters in the first round. 118 – he had only flown over this mark of the Oberstdorf slope at lofty heights during his many touring successes, including the fourfold victory in 17/18.

The early departure of the Norwegian Daniel Andres Tande came as a surprise, whose shape will take longer to blossom again after his violent fall while ski flying. Bitter, because in a way incidental, came the end of the Austrian Kamil Stoch, namely that of Stefan Kraft. He, too, has always been a podium jumper for the past seven years, had already won the tour or at least kept it exciting when it came to the jumps in Innsbruck and Bischofshofen.

Open detailed view

But there are always ups and downs in sport, especially this one. For everyone who is currently losing, the Rastbüchler Severin Freund is, to put it pathetically, a beacon. Freund, the world champion and overall world cup winner, who significantly promoted the resurgence of DSV jumping after the Schmitt / Hannawald era, had now returned after a long injury break , and it went up again: Freund made such a long leap in qualification that he then waited more than 50 jumpers for over an hour in bitterly cold and wet air in the leaders box before finally one was better. The next success came in the final, after a great jump, Freund was in the race as the second-placed German before it went downhill again.

Because his suit turned out to be too wide. This is also a mishap that can happen quickly, because the tailors always sew to the limit of what is allowed due to the impending competitive disadvantage of a suit that is too tight. Freund accepted his disqualification quietly, “Control is important”, he said at the end of this memorable opening day of the 70th Four Hills Tournament.

Later on, the final offered a great moment for the jumper who, despite the tight gaps, has to be the first favorite. Because Ryoyu Kobayashi, who had been flying down the slope for so long, was already crossing the dangerous zone, he was approaching the hill record (143.5 meters), but to be on the safe side, he didn’t just plop down with both feet on the same level in the snow retained its outstanding elegance and even continued the telemark.