Karl Geiger won the Olympic medal he had hoped for and, with bronze, gave the German ski jumpers their first precious metal at the Winter Games in China. The 29-year-old was only beaten by the Norwegian Marius Lindvik and the Japanese Ryoyu Kobayashi on Saturday.
Geiger twice jumped 138 meters on the large hill in Zhangjiakou and caused a surprise. In his previous appearances on the gigantic ski jump facility, very little had indicated a podium finish.
It was “more of a mountain” that fell from his heart, Geiger said on ZDF: “It was incredibly hard days, a pretty big number, I wouldn’t have believed it, but today it worked, really cool .”
“I thought if someone could do it, Karl could do it,” says teammate Jonathan Schmid
When it came down to it, things were almost perfect for Geiger. He was not discouraged by the temperatures well below freezing or by the negative experiences of the past few days. The leader of the overall World Cup ranking showed flights at the highest level. “I definitely believed in that. It’s gotten better and better in the last few days,” said national coach Stefan Horngacher on ZDF. “What Karl did today was the original Karl Geiger again.”
The winner of the large hill: Marius Lindvik.
(Photo: Andrew Medichini/AP)
Before the final team competition on Monday, he gained self-confidence and took some pressure off the team. His buddy Markus Eisenbichler also impressed with fifth place. Constantin Schmid was 14th, Pius Paschke 28th. “I thought if someone could do it, Karl could do it,” said Schmid about the top German jumper.
An Olympics without the men winning a medal is no longer a threat. The last time that happened was in Turin in 2006. After that, the eagles of the German Ski Association (DSV) always got at least one podium place. Katharina Althaus won silver on the normal hill in Beijing.
In China, the start had failed. Geiger was only 15th in the individual on the normal hill, Markus Eisenbichler even only finished 31st. When the team was on course for a medal in the following mixed competition, it was slowed down hard. Katharina Althaus was disqualified because of a non-compliant jump suit, Germany was eliminated after the first round. One day after his 29th birthday, Geiger himself gave the long-awaited positive news.