German Ski Jumping team in top shape

The German ski jumpers proved their enormous potential on the third weekend of the season. In Nizhny Tagil (RUS), the athletes of head coach Werner Schuster showed the best performance of a German team since the times of Martin Schmitt and Sven Hannawald.

The atmosphere within the team is outstanding, the fighting spirit is huge. Now there are two more World Cup weekends left, then it's time for the equally famous and infamous 4-Hills-Tournament.

Monday with one win (Richard Freitag on Saturday) and a 1-2 finish (Andreas Wellinger ahead of Richard Freitag on Sunday) in the bag. It was the most successful World Cup weekend for the German ski jumpers since the times of Martin Schmitt and Sven Hannawald.

In addition, Markus Eisenbichler could have definitely landed on the podium as well, Karl Geiger also left a strong impression and was even in the lead at half-time on Saturday. Stephan Leyhe and Pius Paschke also presented themselves well in the extremely strong field of competitors in Nizhny Tagil, even if they didn't get that much attention due to the success of Wellinger and Freitag.

Richard Freitag and Andreas Wellinger on 1 and 2 in the overall World Cup

The strength of the team also shows in the current overall World Cup ranking where Freitag (270 points) leads ahead of Wellinger (239 points) and there's a team spirit that hasn't been seen in a German team for a long time. All that although the actual leader of the team, Severin Freund (overall World Cup winner 2014/15) will miss the entire season due to an ACL tear.

In the lead in the Nations Cup

With 1472 points, Germany also leads the Nations Cup ahead of Norway (1402 points). Austria in third is already clearly behind the top two with 986 points. Last year's champion Poland is fourth with 965 points. The German team is top this winter. The next events will be held in Titisee-Neustadt on December 9th (Team) and 10th (Individual) and in Engelberg (SUI), before the start of the 4-Hills-Tournament. The last German to win the 4-Hills-Tournament was Sven Hannawald with his Grand Slam in 2001/02. The chances for a German win at the 4-Hills-Tournament haven't been that high for 15 years. But it will also not be easy this winter. Stefan Kraft of Austria, Daniel Andre Tande of Norway, last year's winner Kamil Stoch of Poland and a few other top athletes will definitely not give up without a fight.

It will be exciting - very exciting!