JSo now the first major crisis is here. For three and a half years, things ran like clockwork for Stefan Horngacher and his ski jumpers. But the jerking, about which his athletes had already complained because of an imperfect inrun track in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, has become more violent. Only one man in the top ten – that’s something the German national coach only knew from hearsay. But it is the reality. Only Andreas Wellinger, who is currently eighth, appears further up in the result lists. The rest? Beaten off at the Four Hills Tournament.
Karl Geiger, Markus Eisenbichler and colleagues experience a depressing tour. “That’s the hardest thing since I’ve been a coach,” said Horngacher in Innsbruck and before the onward journey to Bischofshofen. “We have always presented ourselves well on the tour and throughout the season. Now we have a bit of a low,” said the Tyrolean, who as an objective analyst relies on calm, patience and a sense of proportion even in bad phases.
Eisenbichler: “Crap”
The fact that his frontman Geiger didn’t even buy the ticket for the classic at Bergisel was an unprecedented setback. The Oberstdorfer, who was highly decorated as a multiple world champion, came in fifty-first – an idea to forget. Geiger had previously completed more than 100 competitions under Horngacher’s aegis. But nothing like this had ever happened before.
Of course, the mood is gloomy, and it was Eisenbichler, the pithy Bavarian with the pithy sayings, who assessed the situation as “crappy”. Olympic champion Wellinger chose even heartier words when it came to describing the German team’s lack of a chance at Bergisel.
“We just lack the top spot”
Horngacher is a professional who doesn’t avoid questions. “It’s not pleasant at the moment,” he said about the general and personal mood after the tour devastating blow for the German flying artists. Should Wellinger fall out of the top ten after the two final competition jumps this Friday in Bischofshofen (4.30 p.m., live on ZDF and Eurosport), this would be the worst German record in twelve years.
In the qualification on Thursday, Wellinger finished 24th, directly ahead of Geiger. For days, the national coach had repeatedly praised the unity of the team. And somehow it’s true: The team is closed – bad.
With Geiger in particular, the ski jumpers of the German Ski Association (DSV) have an athlete in their ranks who has been a model of solidity and reliability for years. “Karle” and the tour – that was almost a love affair. Third in 2020, second in 2021, fourth in 2022. And in 2023? knocked off. Before the final on the Paul-Ausserleitner-Schanze, Geiger is ranked 23rd in the overall standings.
Horngacher does not shut himself off from this, and it is also not a diversionary maneuver that he recently repeatedly mentioned the carefree jumping up of Philipp Raimund, who, as a tour freshman at just 22 years old, was an “absolute bright spot”.
“We just don’t have the top spot,” said the national coach. Great, that’s the others. The Norwegians, Poles and Slovenians, who will fight for the first three places overall on Epiphany. The tour win, however, as shown by the two victories in Oberstdorf and Garmisch-Partenkirchen and second place in Innsbruck, will go to Norway again after 2007.
Halvor Egner Granerud, who won the qualification in Bischofshofen with a jump of 137 meters in front of Dawid Kubacki, has so far withstood all the strains and challenges. His lead of almost 13 meters should be enough to keep Kubacki at bay.
It is undisputed that Horngacher knows his trade. Before joining DSV, he was head coach and responsible for the progress of the Poles. Among other things, he made Kamil Stoch the tournament winner in 2017 and even the Grand Slam champion in 2018. After the low at Bergisel, he said: “It’s important that we fix one or two things and that the boys don’t get impatient, but stay positive and that they can still get ahead with good individual jumps.”
Horst Hüttel, the ski jumping team manager at DSV, doesn’t see everything as black either. “There is no phlegmatic, totally depressed mood,” he said, and immediately hoped to improve. “Something like that is not irreversible.”
Sven Hannawald was a little more skeptical. The last German winner of the Four Hills Tournament, who went down in history after his four individual successes with the first Grand Slam, judged when looking at the hasty competition: “It won’t be easier for the Germans to stay tuned.” The situation is currently “a bit hopeless”. A little, but not completely hopeless. Challenging times for the plucked eagles.
