Markus Eisenbichler is World Champion

Markus Eisenbichler won a true nail-biter on Saturday afternoon on the large hill in Innsbruck. With his first big international success, the athlete from Bavaria provided a surprise, just like his teammate Karl Geiger in second and Swiss Killian Peier in third.

The scream Markus Eisenbichler made after he won gave everyone goose-bumps, just like the emotions shown by second-placed Karl Geiger and Killian Peier in third. It was the most emotional Ski Jumping event in a long time and there was no one, who thought that the Top 3 didn't deserve this success.

Eisenbichler jumped on 131.5 m and 135.5 m on the Bergisel-hill in Innsbruck and the 27-year-old won with a total of 279.4 points - finally a big win for Eisenbichler, who was so close many times before. "It's simply incredible. I didn't expect that it would go that well for me. It was an incredible day, I'm more than happy to be on the podium together with Karl. For me, it was important to be within striking distance to the best after the first round. In the second round and I then thought that I have only one chance and that is to risk it all. That's what I did, it was sensational. Many people said to me that I'll take my first win at the WSC. So many said it that from time to time I even believed it myself", a totally overwhelmed Markus Eisenbichler said after the competition.

Karl Geiger completed the triumph for the team of head coach Werner Schuster in second. "It's incredible, all I can do is smile right now. What Markus did was even more amazing. I'm extremely happy that he could finally take his first win. When he was up there at the start I just wished that he would have a very good jump. My jumps were good here since the training, it was easier again, I didn't have to push that hard. We will not celebrate too much today because of the team event tomorrow. Hopefully tomorrow we can celebrate together as a team", said Karl Geiger, who will be on the German team together with Markus Eisenbichler, Richard Freitag and Stephan Leyhe in Sunday's team competition.
Leyhe will replace Andreas Wellinger, who couldn't qualify for the final round today in 32nd.

Huge joy also for 23-year-old Killian Peier of Switzerland, who achieved the biggest success of his career with the bronze medal: "This is amazing, it's a great feeling. It was special for me to be the last one to jump in the second round, I never experienced that before on this level. I just gave it my all and I'm very satisfied with the medal. This is very special for me. The other two were simply better, that's no problem."

Highflyer Ryoyu Kobayashi came in fourth, Kamil Stoch was the best Pole in fifth, defending champion and local hero Stefan Kraft finished sixth, followed by the two Norwegians Johann Andre Forfang and Robert Johansson in seventh and eighth.

The second Ski Jumping competition of the Nordic WSC 2019 takes place already tomorrow with the team event on the large hill. The team of Germany is now obviously the top favorite after today's result, but Austria, Poland, Norway, Japan, and Slovenia will definitely not admit defeat without a fight.
The competition starts at 2:45 pm CET.

Full results