Actually everything was very simple. He had to do one last jump at the end of four tour stations without any problems. He had a lead of about 16 meters when the Norwegian flags and several others were waved below. It’s always a special moment when the last of 320 first round and final jumps after four tour stations is imminent; there can be a lot of nervousness in the game, crucial mistakes can still happen. But Halvor Egner Granerud from Asker in southern Norway wasn’t even thinking about safety.
The leader then pulled off one of his signature performances. He threw himself up and forward at the same time, then quickly and without losing speed adjusted his travel position and reached a speed so high that Granerud’s typical banked position with hanging right ski and adjusting left arm could not slow down the flight either. Maybe he wanted to make a statement again after second place in Innsbruck, where his lead had melted to a good 13 meters. But maybe he just can’t help but ski jump like this, namely in these spectacular right drifts, as if he were being pushed onto the bank by an invisible current. At the end of the 71st tour, he was well ahead of Poland’s Dawid Kubacki (33 points behind) and Anze Lanisek (62.2) from Slovenia in the overall standings, together they formed the trio that dominated this tour.
The final evening brought light and shadow for the Germans. On the one hand, the two otherwise best jumpers of national coach Stefan Horngacher, Karl Geiger and Markus Eisenbichler, had not really shown an upward trend; on the particularly long approach track, they didn’t get the momentum that was required for a good flight. Karl Geiger, who made it to the final via the lucky loser rule, got too little air under his skis, similar to Innsbruck: “Now the oven is slowly going out. I’m glad that it’s going home, it was a long day,” said violinist. Andreas Wellinger gave his best as his stomach eased, but he didn’t get more than 20th place. And companion Markus Eisenbichler again missed the final round, the majority of the rest of the team could not put up a decisive ray of hope.
Nothing? Yes, because there was still Philipp Raimund, the 22-year-old from Oberstdorf, whose vertical start in the World Cup now continued to rise in Bischofshofen. His placings on this tour: Oberstdorf 14th, Garmisch-Partenkirchen 15th, Innsbruck 13th, and Bischofshofen: 12th place. “I never thought that I could jump so hard on my first tour,” he said. And he would not have “never thought” that he would “of all things do the best jumps on the two tournament hills that I dislike the least.”
In the final, on the other hand, the three best of this winter so far had the show to themselves. Stefan Kraft, who had long expanded this trio into a quartet that had grown up 20 minutes by car from Bischofshofen, ultimately no longer had the energy to confirm his class in front of his numerous fans. After a good first round, he was at least ten meters off in flight. This experienced ski jumper also jumped off too early and too aggressively, “wanted too much”, as the saying goes, and then fell down again too early at 127.5 meters. On the other hand, the two Austrians Michael Hayböck and Jan Hörl were strong, coming in fourth and fifth in the daily standings.
Because Dawid Kubacki had already jumped too short in the first round, perhaps also because of a shortened inrun, Lanisek had the chance to sit in front of it. The jumper, who had already given up his overall chances of winning in Oberstdorf, took second place with two fabulous, symmetrical and wide open ski wings. But then he knew – Granerud is still waiting at the top, the jumper who doesn’t do things by halves.