He started the season four months ago safely, perfectly and in immaculate posture. After that, Ryoyu Kobayashi has had eight wins so far, for a total of 18 places in the top five. Even after his Olympic victory in February, he maintained this level, however – Kobayashi is the outstanding jumper, but also the perhaps unlucky one slowed down this season. At the end of November he was disqualified within 14 days because of a suit that was too wide and had to stay outside twice from the start because he had Corona.
A dismissal because of the suit is often just bad luck, Corona anyway. So if there were any higher justice in this sport, then Ryoyu Kobayashi should have his second overall victory in his pocket this weekend in Planica, Slovenia. But the missed points of his absences are still missing, which is why this ultra-long season will only get its overall winner next weekend, when the crocuses are already in bloom.
If the jumper starts to think, he often takes off too late
But justice in sport with its many influences is an illusion. And the constellation in Planica in Slovenia will probably be welcomed by most, because once again all eyes are on the last two individual competitions on Friday and Sunday, which not only end a long, sometimes exhausting season, but also happen on one Flying hill with spectacular pictures and actors intoxicated by sailing, including Karl Geiger, second in the World Cup and Kobayashi’s last challenger.
The man from Oberstdorf had shown similarly constant jumps over the 26 stations, just not always in the very top segment, and he was probably more dependent on his relationship to the respective hill than Kobayashi. This is due to one of the peculiarities of this jumping sport: ski jumps are like love affairs. With some facilities, the jumper has a non-relationship after many defeats and looks forward to getting away again. Other ski jumps behave unpredictably, success on them depends a lot on the weather and your own mood. And then there are those structures in the World Cup program on which the jumper experiences pure harmony during the triad of inrun, radius and takeoff. Like Karl Geiger on the Letalnica, the ski flying hill in Planica/Slovenia.
Various factors are a prerequisite for feeling good, i.e. for that self-confidence that also allows unconsciously controlled actions to succeed. In addition to health and fitness, this is also the radius in ski jumping, i.e. the curvature in front of the edge. If this is not rhythmic or if it irritates the jumper with a slight, hardly recognizable flat stretch just before the take-off point, then he starts to think, which often disturbs the intuitive process.
The end of Kleinschanzen-Karle: Geiger owes a lot to this Bakken
On the other hand, if a knight has nothing to fear, then the opposite process takes place. He is looking forward to the hill, as if in his sleep he manages the jump phase, which allows him to surf on his air cushion without losing any speed. In Geiger’s case, something more abstract is added to the harmony between jumper and layout. One can say that Geiger also owes something to Letalnica, because she was also involved in the rise of the Oberstdorf talent. Geiger was already a decent jumper at the end of the last decade, but on smaller slopes where flying skills and self-confidence are not that important. Only since he became world champion at the Ski Flying World Championships in Planica in 2020 has nobody called him “small hill Karle” anymore. That’s probably one of the reasons Geiger says he likes this hill: “Very much.”
He has now become an all-rounder, but he is still missing the big titles in some competitions. He came home from the Olympics in Pyeongchang with team silver, and recently from Beijing with two bronze medals, namely in the team and on the large hill. He had lost the overall ski jumping World Cup relatively narrowly in 2020, he was second after the end of the season. He is also aiming for an individual title at the Nordic World Ski Championships.
66 points behind, 200 points still up for grabs – Geiger’s chances are not particularly great
The final calculation of this ski jumping winter is now relatively simple. Karl Geiger is 66 points behind Kobayashi. There are two flight competitions, the winner gets 100 points each. Geiger’s chances aren’t particularly great, on the other hand, Kobayashi had only achieved seventh place recently. And if Geiger actually had his best performance on the Letalnica on Friday, then things could actually get exciting again for the second flight on Sunday.
This winter’s latest forecast, the one about style, bounce and flying feel, may speak slightly for Geiger. National coach Stefan Horngacher evokes the remaining possibilities with the words: “There is still something in it.” And, with the rule of three: “He’s in great shape, Planica suits him, he’s looking forward to it.” Both opponents are about equally strong, both can sail motionless like mountain jackdaws in the air when they are in top form and in good conditions, but the decisive factor should once again be the ultra-short phase at the table on the hill, the hill that Geiger likes so much.