The German ski jumpers for the medal candidates Andreas Wellinger and Richard Freitag have already almost lost the battle for gold from the normal hill at the Olympic Games in Pyeongchang.
Surprisingly, Stefan Hula, who had never been on the podium in the World Cup before, flies towards victory with a set of 111 m and 131.8 points. However, the chances of the German eagles on the podium are still intact in a wind lottery with partly irregular conditions.
Friday (Aue) is only 0.4 points behind Kamil Stoch (Poland/106.5 m) and Johann Andre Forfang (Norway/106 m) after a tough first round with 106 m and 125.5 points. He’s 20 centimeters to bronze. The qualifying best Wellinger (Ruhpolding) is missing after a jump of 104.5 m on 104.5 m after being influenced by a lot of crosswind. 50 centimeters to the podium are missing.
The German jumpers defied the adverse conditions as well as they could – and showed an outstanding team performance: Markus Eisenbichler (Siegsdorf) is seventh in the intermediate league, followed by Karl Geiger (Oberstdorf) in eighth place.
The twisting and biting wind made the jumpers’ lives difficult and the competition almost a farce. For example, medal contender Peter Prevc from Slovenia had to wait about ten minutes in the icy cold at the top of the tower before he was sent out – no wonder that he had already landed at 98.5 metres. Again and again, the waiting jumpers were interrupted, shaking, wrapped in blankets, waiting for their approach.
Another fellow favourite was caught very badly. Dawid Kubacki, normally number two in the Polish team behind Stoch, crashed at 88 metres under unfavourable conditions and is already eliminated “It’s not easy in these conditions,”said Gregor Schlierenzauer from Austria, who fought his way to 102.5 metres.