Super team competition
Germans in sixth place in ski flying in Oberstdorf
The German team led by Andreas Wellinger missed the podium in ski flying in Oberstdorf. photo
© Karl-Josef Hildenbrand/dpa
The start of home ski flying in Oberstdorf offers long flights against an impressive mountain backdrop. With Andreas Wellinger and Pius Paschke it’s not enough to get to the top.
Andreas Wellinger and Pius Paschke kicked off the ski flying weekend Oberstdorf cannot intervene in the fight for the podium places. The 28-year-old Wellinger and Paschke, who is five years older, took sixth place in the super team competition.
The Slovenian duo Timi Zajc and Domen Prevc secured victory on the Heini-Klopfer ski flying hill. Second place went to Johann André Forfang and Kristoffer Eriksen Sundal from Norway ahead of the two Austrians Stefan Kraft and Michael Hayböck, who achieved the longest flight of the competition with a leap of 235 meters.
Wellinger initially flew a strong 230.5 meters, but only managed 206.5 meters in his second attempt. Paschke also had a weaker flight at 206.5 meters and then flew 223.5 meters. “The jumps in the competition were perhaps not quite as good as in training,” said Paschke on ARD. “Unfortunately I left something behind in the first round.”
Competition shortened to two instead of three flights per athlete
Karl Geiger, 2020 ski flying world champion, is currently in a slump in form and was not named to the two-man team. The Oberstdorfer followed the events in his homeland as a spectator and, alongside ski jumping legend Jens Weißflog, cheered along with his teammates.
Normally in the Super Team each athlete jumps three times. However, strong and changing winds in the Allgäu had disrupted the competition plan. Contrary to plan, no training could take place on Thursday. The two training jumps were postponed to Friday and the competition was shortened to two instead of three flights per athlete. When it comes to ski flying, the regulations only allow four flights per athlete on the same day.