Final of the Four Hills Tournament: The best second

Andreas Wellinger finished the Four Hills Tournament in second place behind Ryoyu Kobayashi. This has long been the regular spot for German jumpers.

Andreas Wellinger in the snowstorm over Bischofshofen Photo: Kai Pfaffenbach/Reuters

BISHOPS HOUSE taz | Sven Hannawald stood with his cell phone in the swirl of flakes in Bischofshofen and took a selfie with the award ceremony in the background. At the top of the podium: the Japanese Ryoyu Kobayashi. To his left is Andreas Wellinger with a pained smile. For the fifth time since 2016, a German ski jumper finished the Four Hills Tournament in second place overall. This means that the runners-up were unable to break the tour curse even 22 years after Hannawald’s last German overall victory.

“It’s like magic. Nevertheless, this time there is still a good feeling – because Andreas Wellinger has created moments for eternity. The ratings on TV were great, the two tour jumps in Germany were sold out, 25,000 spectators sang along to the German national anthem when he won in Oberstdorf,” commented the ski jumping legend Hannawald: “The nation stood behind Andi Wellinger, he has a new enthusiasm for ski jumping triggered. That was the best second place ever.”

But that couldn’t really console Andi Wellinger or the rest of the German flying team. “Olympic gold, World Cup title: we have won everything you can win in the last ten years. Of course we dreamed of finally being at the top of the tour again. Now we have to fight for another year because someone better came around the corner. “It’s difficult,” said sports director Horst Hüttel.

After his phenomenal opening victory in Oberstdorf and third place in the New Year’s competition in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, half-time leader Wellinger lost some of his “looseness and flow”. Two fifth places in Innsbruck and the finale in Bischofshofen were not enough to stop Kobayashi, who was incredibly stable with four second places on the tour. The Japanese won the ski jumping Grand Slam as the first flyer in 25 years without a single day’s victory.

Good show

According to national coach Stefan Horngacher, Wellinger put on an “amazing show that he can be damn proud of”. But in the results list of the world’s most important annual ski jumping event, someone else was at the top. The German pilots haven’t tried everything in the past to break this tour curse. Former national coach Werner Schuster had his team imitate the entire ten days in the four tour locations once in the summer. This time, at the start in Oberstdorf, there was new team quarters in the Hotel Sonnenbichl am Rotfischbach for the first time.

But when fishing for the Golden Eagle, something went wrong at the start of the tour. The co-favorites Karl Geiger and Pius Paschke – both of whom had won World Cups immediately before the tour – were unable to cope with the pressure and already fell hopelessly behind in the tour standings in Oberstdorf. “Andi was alone at the front of our team very early on. And I know from the last few years how big this backpack is,” analyzed Karl Geiger, who ended up in a disappointing 14th place on the tour. Paschke only turned 20.

Wellinger was the only one from what was actually the strongest German team to get through since Hannawald’s triumph in 2002 – but his form curve was also pointing slightly downwards. “Kobayashi just answers most of the questions about the jumping with yes and no – and then he leaves. “Andi always had a huge program of interviews because we are so much in the spotlight at home,” said Horngacher, citing a detail as the reason for second place. Isolating yourself even more from the public during the tour is still not an option for the future.

Good balance

Wellinger himself didn’t want to use public pressure as an excuse: “I put most of the pressure on myself anyway – and the public’s interest is also a privilege. I actually managed to strike a good balance between tension and relaxation over the last ten days of the tour – I may have lacked a little lightness and luck in the two competitions in Austria. I didn’t make many mistakes, but there were just a few too many.” You have to acknowledge that Kobayashi was just a little bit better.

In addition to the prize of 100,000 Swiss, the Japanese high-flyer collected his third Golden Eagle after 2019 and 2022 – after Markus Eisenbichler and Karl Geiger, this time Wellinger was his “German victim”. And the exceptional flying talent from the Far East wants to continue winning – after all, he is only two overall tour wins away from the all-time record holder Janne Ahonen (Finland): “I’m ready to try.”

However, after his sweet and sour second place, Andreas Wellinger is more motivated than ever to break the German tour curse: “At some point you can’t stop us anymore. Hopefully we only have to wait one more year.” Sven Hannawald would be fine with it and he believes that, like league leaders Bayer Leverkusen in the Bundesliga, the German runners-up will also shed their reputation as “eternal” runners-up on the tour: ” I finally want to give up my backpack and get a successor. After this tour, hope is greater than ever.”