Dhe man is a phenomenon. He can fly – and he can win. It is impressive to see how Halvor Egner Granerud goes about his work this winter, who is not. Ski jumping is the Norwegian’s passion. Already three days ago, when the Four Hills Tournament in Oberstdorf picked up speed and attracted a total of 41,000 spectators to the hill on two days of jumping, Granerud was in a class of its own. He defeated World Cup leader Dawid Kubacki.
And because it was so nice, the 26-year-old did it again. This time on the first day of the new year 2023, at the classic, the New Year’s competition in Garmisch-Partenkirchen. Granerud flew and flew. Once he landed at 140 meters, the second time at 142 meters. Nobody could follow him, and so the strong Slovenian Anze Lanisek and qualification winner Kubacki had to settle for second and third place. The trio, who already convinced in the Allgäu, will also turn their backs on Germany and try to defend their lead in Austria.
“There must be a miracle”
In the fight for the Golden Eagle, which is due to the best high-flyer after the final in Bischofshofen on Epiphany, the German ski jumpers suffered a decisive setback halfway through the tour. Andreas Wellinger in eighth place and Karl Geiger, who came eleventh on the big Olympic hill, are already a huge gap to Granerud and Co.
“A miracle would have to happen,” said national coach Stefan Horngacher. While Granerud is the lone leader in the overall standings with 616.1 points, Geiger in fifth is already 57.6 points behind. Converted into meters, that’s 32 meters – and this after only two competitions. Wellinger, sixth overall, is two tenths of a point behind his teammate.
Even Kubacki, who traveled to the tour as the leading man in World Cup events, would have to catch up the equivalent of 15 meters on Granerud. So Granerud is the man to beat. But who should do it? “I’m speechless,” said Alexander Stöckl after two more bravura jumps by his top man. The Norwegian head coach found many words of praise for his “extremely strong nerves and focussed” jumper, who himself spoke of a “dream” “that came true today”. Not only Stöckl knows: “Halvor is in flow.”
German ski jumpers are not in the flow, and yet Philipp Raimund earned further respect as the third best German in the New Year’s competition as 15th. The bold rookie has jumped a splendid tour so far. Stephan Leyhe (17th), Constantin Schmid (23rd), Pius Paschke (24th) and Felix Hoffmann (28th) also made it into the second round of the final. 22-year-old Raimund, who could hardly believe his luck at the start of the new year, said enthusiastically: “It feels cool. I leave well-known athletes behind me. The jumps feel like clockwork.”
New year, same picture. As on New Year’s Eve, spring-like temperatures prevailed in Werdenfelser Land on the first day of the new year. 13 degrees around the big Olympic ski jump in Garmisch-Partenkirchen. New Year’s jumping became Spring jumping. However, there were no major capers. The best of the qualification the day before were more or less the best when it really counted on the second station of the Four Hills Tournament.
The knockout format, which all jumpers had to face, is unique in the World Cup calendar and is only popular in the tour. Only in Oberstdorf, Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Innsbruck and Bischofshofen there are these 25 duels of the 50 qualified. In the German-German comparison between Paschke and Markus Eisenbichler, “Eisei”, as he is called by his teammates, was once again the last stop.
Things are anything but smooth for Karl Geiger in the new year.
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Image: dpa
Eisenbichler had already failed to make it into the final in Oberstdorf. On New Year’s he jumped 124 meters – not enough to get a second jump on the list of lucky losers as 32nd. Eisenbichler took the early sporting end after adverse conditions for him. “The wind was blowing from right to left. I’ve failed. I’m preparing for Innsbruck. I’ll stay with the tour unless Steff decides otherwise.” National coach Horngacher later said that Eisenbichler would stay.
In the fight for the Golden Eagle, Geiger and Wellinger had intervened promisingly at the start of the tour. Things didn’t look too bad for the German duo in Garmisch-Partenkirchen either after the first round. Wellinger was fifth, Geiger tenth. Under the cheers of the 20,000 spectators who had gathered around the large run-out in the sold-out ski jumping stadium, the two tried to stabilize this in the final round as well. The plan didn’t work out completely. But the goal of the flying Norwegian Granerud. He’s on course for the Grand Slam.
