The infamous Bergisel lives up to its reputation. In the wind-driven qualifying competition, German tour hopeful Wellinger only fulfills his duty.
Olympic ski jumping champion Andreas Wellinger suffered a small sporting setback during the qualification in Innsbruck.
The overall leader of the Four Hills Tournament did not exceed 119.5 meters and took 15th place. Rival Ryoyu Kobayashi from Japan (129 meters) came third in the preliminary round. The qualification points do not count for the ranking, in which Wellinger is currently 1.8 points (the equivalent of one meter) ahead of Kobayashi.
The day’s victory in the qualification in front of 7,500 spectators at Bergisel went to the Slovenian Anze Lanisek (134 meters), who had already won the New Year’s competition in Garmisch-Partenkirchen the day before. Top favorite Stefan Kraft from Austria is already almost 15 meters behind the leading duo, but impressed with a jump of 124.5 meters in the qualification, which was influenced by the changing wind. The 30-year-old took second place on the day. Kraft needs to catch up at the stations in Innsbruck and Bischofshofen.
The other German jumpers also had nothing to do with the front ranks. Behind Wellinger, Philipp Raimund (20th), Stephan Leyhe (30th), Karl Geiger (33rd) and Pius Paschke (35th) also performed significantly worse than expected. The third competition of the traditional event takes place in Tyrol on Wednesday (1:30 p.m.). The final will then take place on January 6th in Bischofshofen. Wellinger (Oberstdorf) and Lanisek won the first two competitions.
Source: Stern
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