Four Hills Tournament in Innsbruck: Kobayashi hunt called off? Eisenbichler and Geiger between lust and frustration

On New Year’s Day, Geiger and his friend “Eisei” were happy about his “saucool” second place in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, a hair’s breadth behind Kobayashi and ahead of the surprise third, Lovro Kos from Slovenia.

But the Oberstdorfer’s own disappointment after two moderate jumps into the new year and seventh place was deep: “I’m just pissed off.”

His dream of the first German tour victory since Sven Hannawald 20 years ago? To bury.

Before the third stop on the tour, Geiger has little hope. “If everything goes normally, I can no longer do it,” he said: “There has to be a wild bird competition.”

Horngacher: “Usually an impossibility”

The situation seems hopeless, too good, the Japanese are currently jumping too flawlessly. Kobayashi also took on Geiger’s yellow jersey with his third World Cup victory in a row, and the 25-year-old is the first ski jumper ever to reach for the second Grand Slam on the tour after 2018/19.

Eisenbichler on the upswing

But that didn’t bother Eisenbichler at all. The result was “awesome”, he won second place and was “very, very satisfied”, especially with the “jumping”. In the overall standings, the six-time world champion climbed to fourth place, behind Kobayashi: 21.1 points, the equivalent of almost twelve meters. In between are still the Norwegian Marius Lindvik (-13.2) and the Slovenian climber Lovro Kos (-17.7).

Eisenbichler doesn’t care about the overall ranking, as he emphasized, “really not at all interested”. National coach Stefan Horngacher remained optimistic before the jump on Schicksalsberg in Innsbruck. “We’re not giving up,” said the Austrian: “I’m very satisfied with the current situation.” The tour was “not yet over” and only ended in Bischofshofen.

Eisenbichler: “Geiger won’t let himself get down”

Anyone could still challenge Kobayashi, said Horngacher, the further course of the tour depends on “how stable he jumps”.

On the wind-prone hill in Innsbruck, many touring dreams have been shattered in the past, very often those from the German team. Last year, for example, Geiger was caught, who only ended up in 16th place after a failed first round.

In any case, before the trip to Austria on Sunday morning, Eisenbichler had a comforting conversation with his long-term roommate. “He’s fine again. He won’t let himself get down,” he said of Geiger.

(SID)

Eurosport shows all the jumps of the Four Hills Tournament in Oberstdorf, Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Innsbruck and Bischofshofen including the qualification LIVE on free TV. Werner Schuster comments with Gerhard Leinauer, Martin Schmitt analyzes with Birgit Nössing in the studio. All jumping LIVE is also available at Eurosport with Joyn +!