Ski jumping: 44 centimetres beaten: Friday in Willingen second behind Tande

Ski jumper Richard Freitag missed his fourth victory of the season at the Olympic dress rehearsal in Willingen, Hesse. At the first of two World Cup jumping competitions on the Mühlenkopf ski jump, the 26-year-old rider from Saxony landed in second place with 0.8 points and 44 centimetres behind ski flying world champion Daniel Andre Tande (Norway).

The Pole Dawid Kubacki finished third. His compatriot Kamil Stoch, who was still leading after the first round, fell back to fourth place. With his eighth place on the podium this season, Freitag extended his lead in the overall World Cup ahead of Stoch.

“The jumps were good, I’m satisfied,” said Freitag, who had fallen heavily after the jump at the Four Hills Tournament in Innsbruck, on ZDF:”When I landed in large open spaces, I’m still having a hard time figuring it out.

The Tande, which had just recovered from a gastrointestinal infection, jumped to 148.0 and 146.5 m in front of an audience of about 20,000 spectators. At 261.3, it was just ahead of Friday’s 261.3, which reached 260.5 points (149.5+141.5). Despite the best run in the first round with a shorter start than Stoch, Friday was in second place behind Poland at half time.

The second best German was Andreas Wellinger (Ruhpolding), who had won the individual jumping event in Willingen last year. After jumps, the runner-up World Champion landed in fifth place with 252.6 points on 143.5 and 141.5 m, with only 2.2 points missing for the podium.

The World Cup third Markus Eisenbichler (Siegsdorf) with his twelfth place (233.0/136.0+139.5 m) once again fell short of expectations. After a strong first jump Karl Geiger (Oberstdorf) dropped back from ninth place and became 14th (228.7/143.0+130.5). Willingen’s local hero Stephan Leyhe finished 16th (222.8/140.0+131.0).

On Sunday (10.20 a. m.) another individual jumping will take place in Willingen, a qualification for this will not be held any more. On Monday the German ski jumpers leave Frankfurt Airport for South Korea.