The German ski jumpers around the Four Hills Tournament runners-up Andreas Wellinger have collected a damper at the dress rehearsal for the World Ski Jumping Championships in Oberstdorf. In the absence of the ailing Richard Freitag, the German record holder Markus Eisenblicher was the twelfth best DSV eagle at the victory of the Norwegian Andreas Stjernen in the first World Cup flying of the season in Bad Mitterndorf, Wellinger was ranked 17th.
With a strong tailwind at the notorious Kulm, Eisenbichler and Wellinger had already lost all chances of a top position in the first run with 204.0 and 196.0 m respectively, in the second run Eisenbichler (217.0) and Wellinger (211.5) managed to limit the damage after all with an extended start.
Six days before the World Championships (19. till 21. January) Stjernen jumped to 229.0 and 226.0 m in his first World Cup victory. The 29-year-old, whose father Hroar also won the World Cup once, saved 2.5 points ahead of his compatriot Daniel Andre Tande, who advanced to seventh place with a daily distance of 240.5 metres in the second round.
Four-time Olympic gold medallist Simon Ammann from Switzerland, who was back on the podium for the first time in almost three years, finished third. The 45-year-old Japanese Noriaki Kasai, 1992 ski flying world champion (!) achieved his best result of the season in sixth place.
The Polish high-flyer Kamil Stoch, who had won all four jumps at the Four Hills Tournament, was 23rd. as the Germans did way back. The disappointing world record holder Stefan Kraft (Austria) suffered the next setback as eleventh in his home game.
Two of the biggest ski jumpers in history didn’t make it to the second round. After his comeback, the Austrian Gregor Schlierenzauer (28), 2008 Ski Flying World Champion, who was still weak in form after his comeback, came third to last but one place with a height of 173.5 m, touring record winner Janne Ahonen (40), with 170.0 m on the penultimate place.
Richard Freitag, the dominant jumper of the first weeks of the season, had abandoned a start at the Kulm after his crash at the Four Hills Tournament in Innsbruck. The 26-year-old is expected to return to the team next week.