12 Germans compete in FIS Grand Prix final

The German team around the new head coach Stefan Horngacher is full of anticipation of the final event of the FIS Grand Prix 2019 on home soil in Klingenthal, even if the Austrian expects the conditions there to be not easy.

"We are looking forward to competing in front of the home crowd in Klingenthal. Klingenthal is one of the big hills, usually the conditions there are demanding and the athletes have to jump with a lot of heart there", said Stefan Horngacher.

The coach was not really satisfied with the performances of his athletes last weekend in Hinzenbach: "In September we had two joint training camps in Innsbruck and Planica, most recently we were training in Hinzenbach. The training was successful. Even though our athletes did jump that well in Hinzenbach recently, I think that we are on the right track. The athletes now have to show their current level of performance also in the competition. In Hinzenbach we were performing below our potential."

In the FIS Grand Prix on the normal hill in Hinzenbach, Karl Geiger and Stephan Leyhe were the best Germans in 17th and 19th.

The German Ski Association will be represented by a total of 12 athletes in Klingenthal: Markus Eisenbichler, Richard Freitag, Karl Geiger, Stephan Leyhe, Martin Hamann and Constantin Schmid and a national group consisting of Moritz Baer, Felix Hoffmann, Kilian Maerkl, Philipp Raimund, Luca Roth and Pius Paschke.

For the German jumpers welcome the fact that the final international event before the World Cup opening on November 23rd and 24th in Wisla is a home competition on Saturday (training, qualification on Friday). "I'm looking forward to our home event in Klingenthal, that is fun! Hopefully the weather conditions will be good. This is already the final leg of the Summer Grand Prix - the summer preparation is coming to an end and, with that, the final training phase for the winter season starts for us", said Richard Freitag.