Probably he does it best of all: To withdraw into a kind of vacuum, into a cloud in which he sees nothing, hears and feels nothing, only himself, the skis and the wind. Ryoyu Kobayashi, the intuitive ski jumper from Japan, is back in his element.
In the second part of the Four Hills Tournament in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Kobayashi brought his art almost to perfection. From the take-off table he threw himself into the air in such perfect form that nothing could actually happen on the rest of the way down. The view was clear, the wind peaceful and his flight attitude calm and stable. From then on, mistakes no longer happen to him, which is why Kobayashi is now leading the tour at halftime with a 13 point lead over Norwegian Marius Lindvik. For Karl Geiger from Oberstdorf, on the other hand, his most stubborn opponent to date, it was a black day. Geiger fell so far behind in the tour rating that he almost admitted his overall defeat. For a return among the best, according to Geiger, “a wild bird jumping would have to happen” in Innsbruck.
Kobayashi has now won three competitions in a row
Geiger, who was in the end almost Japanese and at peace with himself, he did not hide his frustration. “I’m just pissed off,” he said, but he couldn’t explain what exactly happened at first. He came in seventh, his jumps were faulty, and on top of that there was what ski jumpers hate, but which is sometimes inevitable: a wind problem. In both passages, Geiger’s air came from behind and pushed him towards the jump. In addition, he was too late for the second decisive jump, so his trajectory was too flat, and he flew away under the optimal curve, as national coach Stefan Horngacher said. You can’t get very far, which is why Geiger sums it up precisely: “Several things have come together, so that this happens again during the tour, of all things, just sucks.”
Beyond Kobayashi, who has already won three competitions in a row, namely Garmisch-Partenkirchen, before that Oberstdorf and before that the general rehearsal in Engelberg, the field of jumpers continues to go haywire, absolutely wild. The pursuers were shaken up like in a dice cup and scattered again. In this group are the Norwegian Lindvik, the young Slovenian Lovro Kos with 13.2 and 17.7 points behind the leaders. One of the top favorites, on the other hand, has almost no chance in fifth place: the Norwegian Halvor Egner Granerud.
Eisenbichler just missed the hill record of 144 meters
And in front of him in fourth place after the Garmisch Jumping is someone who had chosen a long period of patience for himself and was now probably surprised by himself: Markus Eisenbichler, 30, from Siegsdorf had returned from the shadow of the Olympic hill patient form building in the middle of the spotlight.
In the second tournament he came closest to Kobayashi: In the first round, Eisenbichler had covered 141 meters, two less than Kobayashi. Then in the second he grew wings. He took eight and a half meters from the Japanese, but at 143.5 meters he came into the area where he could no longer see brushwood, those twigs that give the snow in the landing area contours. “I didn’t want to risk anything anymore,” said Eisenbichler. He did without telemark, instead crouching deeply, which was barely touching the snow. The Weitenpunkt melted again, but Eisenbichler obviously didn’t care. Second place was won and not lost, that’s how he saw it.
Eisenbichler doesn’t want to look at the overall standings
That was also an attempt not to let this sudden return lead you into wrong thoughts. Eisenbichler was looking for the lost form for a long time. He rehearsed basic techniques, repeatedly assembling the very simple things, the take-off movement, the flight position, everything piece by piece. And this plan is apparently to be pursued. He now loses “absolutely no look at the overall standings, I’ll just keep working on my jumps,” he said afterwards in the mixed zone in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, below the Zugspitze, behind which the sun had long since disappeared.
Beyond Kobayashi, however, the hopes of Slovenians, Norwegians and of course Austrians to win this 70th tour are getting thinner. Some like Granerud are too unstable, others, such as the Slovenian Kos, are probably still too young, and a great jumper, the Austrian Stefan Kraft, even missed the qualification in Garmisch.
And yet, because of Eisenbichler, a bit of tension may persist. Maybe this sudden shape will hold up, maybe it will carry it on now, even if he says, “No, I can’t believe it will all go by itself, I have to keep working, I have to stick with it.”