The Four Hills Tournament can come: Richard Freitag and Andreas Wellinger experience a winter fairy tale shortly before Christmas. The competition is amazed and helpless.
A photo as a souvenir had to be left after the memorable one-two win. So Werner Schuster took his two ski-jumping aces aside: Left Richard Freitag in the yellow jersey, right Andreas Wellinger, and in the middle of it the national coach almost burst with pride.”The two of them are really strong at the moment. I am very happy to have them,”said Schuster after the renewed power demonstration in Titisee-Neustadt.
Friday’s triumph before Wellinger was the second double victory in a row – a feat that German ski jumpers were able to achieve 27 years ago. So it’s no wonder that three weeks before the Four Hills Tournament, hopes for the first German overall victory since Sven Hannawald’s Grand Slam 2001/2002 are growing. Pressure would have been there anyway. From this point of view, it’s much more comfortable,”said the success coach.
Friday and Wellinger cheered happily in front of the 5000 soaking wet spectators, but both did not allow too much euphoria. Just Friday is a burned child:”I’ve already gone to the tour with a win, and then…. That’s just something else. It can be very different from what it is now,”said the 26-year-old. Three years ago, the Saxon had won the dress rehearsal in Engelberg, and on the tour he was “only” sixth – his best result to date.
On Fridays two victories in five jumping competitions are nevertheless the big surprise of the Olympic winter so far:”I could not have expected Richard in this form,”Schuster also said. 370 World Cup points have already been collected on Friday, almost as many as last year (507), plus a second, fourth and sixth place. And then there’s Wellinger:”It’s cool to play in the top league,”said Schuster.
Meanwhile, the competition is amazed and helpless. The Norwegian Daniel Andre Tande, in Titisee and also in the third place overall World Cup, paid Friday and Wellinger respect:”The two are currently jumping very well. They make it difficult for the rest of us,” double world champion Stefan Kraft nevertheless announced a hot fight for the tour,”We will defend ourselves and bite so that we have a nice duel,”said the Austrian.
This is what national coach Schuster also expects with all pride. Because:”There won’t be any double victories until mid-March. And there are still three weeks to go until the tour,”said the coach. There are a total of eight victorious jumpers:”Strength is still extremely dangerous, the Polish team is incredibly strong, Tande in particular seems to me to be very good. And who knows who else will come,”says Schuster.
So what can you expect from the DSV eagles this winter with their tour, Olympic Games and Skiing World Championships? Richard Freitag had a very simple answer to this question on Sunday:”Definitely a few more World Cup participations. That’s for sure,”he said, grinning broadly. And probably much, much more.