Andreas Wellinger has overcome the most important of several hurdles. On New Year’s Day in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, where a blue sky stretched over the ski stadium in the morning, the Ruhpoldinger was able to defend his lead in the overall ranking. Especially with a strong jump in the second round, he managed to stay at the top, ahead of Ryoyu Kobayashi, his closest rival from Japan. And at the next stop in Austria, on the narrow Bergisel ski jump in Innsbruck, the strong jumpers rather than the flying types have an advantage. Wellinger even combines both skills; The move to the Alpine republic should therefore not be a disadvantage for him. Especially after that performance on New Year’s Day.
The German team under national coach Stefan Horngacher once again showed a decent performance in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, but was no longer represented in the top ten with half the team strength as in Oberstdorf. The Slovenian Anze Lanisek secured the day’s victory after jumps of 136 and 137 meters. Kobayashi and Wellinger completed the podium in front of 21,000 spectators, which, according to the organizers, is a record for a New Year’s event. The loser of the first day in 2024 is the top favorite Stefan Kraft from Austria. He lost another 14.8 points to Wellinger.
Another key player: the deep landing area of the jump
A duel has arisen from what has happened on the tour so far: The Japanese colleagues who suddenly appeared in the press center in Garmisch-Partenkirchen really played poker. Her compatriot, Ryoyu Kobayashi, who has already won the tour twice, including once in the Grand Slam, has also caught up significantly in the overall standings. The result is: Wellinger still leads Kobayashi, but by a narrow margin – with 1.8 points. Nevertheless, his coach was satisfied: “Andi Wellinger jumped and landed really well today, that was the most important thing. He solved it really well. The jumps were at a very high level. I’m very happy with third place,” said Stefan Horngacher .
Third in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, leader in the overall ranking: Andreas Wellinger got off to a good start in the Four Hills Tournament.
(Photo: Daniel Kopatsch/Getty Images)
The first round below the Gudiberg, the Partenkirchner slalom hill, had not yet resulted in a preliminary decision, but was still somewhat spectacular. The partly uneven landing zone caused constant tension. The young German Philipp Raimund, for example, just kept his balance with a kind of tightrope walk to prevent himself from falling. The much more experienced Austrian Michael Hayböck also apparently slipped into the treacherous area a little later – he too, at least without falling. The two and a number of other jumpers lost their chances of placing in the top third because the deductions for the sliding games were high. For the noisy spectators, in addition to the skilful ski jumping that afternoon, it offered good entertainment and relief from a New Year’s Eve hangover.
The tour leader Andreas Wellinger, in turn, had made a slight mistake in the qualification the day before in Garmisch, which almost became a serious disaster for him. When landing, he found himself in a very supine position and his buttocks came close to the snow; a fall could have been the end of his ambitions for overall victory and the DSV fairytale in 2024. On the other hand, this jump was also proof of his strength, because he had jumped further than everyone else, only the landing technique had set him back by three points.
There was a tear in Wellinger’s suit after Oberstdorf’s winning jump
All in all, Wellinger is fulfilling the majority of his tasks perfectly these days. During the qualification, the squatting, jumping and flying phases were fine. And the material was also correct – except for one tiny detail that kept the material testers busy in the meantime. There was a small tear in Wellinger’s suit after the winning jump. It was just a hole at the level of the collarbone, but it didn’t belong there.
Some inspectors would have disqualified him, but the examiners responsible in this case saw no problem and had no complaints at all. However, Wellinger was only able to finally put an end to the short affair when it became clear that the rift had only arisen later, namely on the winner’s stage while celebrating. Wellinger must still have been frightened, he said: “We have a flexible fabric with a thread from the sewing machine. It just tears at some point.” Tour stage winners celebrate a bit too much, because such success doesn’t happen so often. Wellinger still promises improvement, as he said in his final comment: “It was stupid at that moment. I just have to cheer a little less.”
His teammate Markus Eisenbichler doesn’t feel like celebrating or cracking jokes at the moment. The successful jumper of recent years – six-time world champion, Olympic bronze medalist and second on the tour five years ago – is not finding his way out of his jumping crisis as quickly as he would have liked. He missed the last opportunity to travel with the touring squad to Garmisch-Partenkirchen and perhaps Austria and force a change. Coach Horngacher currently lacks confidence that Eisenbichler can take this step. A place in the national group in Garmisch was given to a jumper from the German junior team.