Richard Freitag missed the podium in Planica, but still made it to second place in the overall World Cup.
In the penultimate individual competition of the season, the World Championship third from Aue came sixth in the success of Polish rider Kamil Stoch, who had already won the World Cup, and can no longer be replaced by the Norwegian Daniel Andre Tande. Ski flying world champion Tande, like Olympic champion Andreas Wellinger, was eliminated in the qualification in Planica.
“It was really fun, there are still a few reserves”, said Friday on ZDF television. National coach Werner Schuster said: “Richard has made a good competition, I am happy for him.”
Stoch flew at his 30th birthday. He won his career at 245.0 and 234.0 m and won with 455.9 m ahead of the Norwegian Johann Andre Forfang (452.2) and world record holder Stefan Kraft from Austria (443.0). Friday, which reached 431.2 points with 234.5 and 232.0 metres, was about ten metres behind Kraft.
The German record holder Markus Eisenbichler (Siegsdorf) remained in 15th place. with 218.5 and 224.0 m falls short of expectations. Stephan Leyhe (Willingen) showed a solid performance in 21st place (215.0+211.0 m). Andreas Wank (Hinterzarten) in 24th (210.0+215.5 m) m and Pius Paschke (Kiefersfelden) in 27th (210.5+219.0 m) m also collected World Cup points.
Gregor Schlierenzauer, who equalled the world record width with 253.5 m in the qualification on Thursday, but reached into the snow, did not get over 210.5 and 194.0 m as well as 19th place this time.
Wellinger (Ruhpolding), who is currently jumping out of shape, was 56th. clearly missed qualifying for the top 40. It was the first time in Wellinger’s career that he failed in a preliminary round. Also Tande, Slovenia’s young star Domen Prevc and team Olympic runner-up Karl Geiger (Oberstdorf) were stuck in the qualification.
On Saturday a team flight is scheduled in Planica. Whether Wellinger will be there, national coach Schuster left open. The season ends on Sunday with another individual competition.