Markus Eisenbichler wins the qualification in Garmisch-Partenkirchen
Dec 31, 2021·Ski Jumping
Markus Eisenbichler won the qualification for the New Year's competition in Garmisch-Partenkirchen. The 30-year-old Bavarian came in ahead of top favorite Ryoyu Kobayashi and Karl Geiger on the Olympic hill in Partenkirchen.
Eisenbichler jumped on 137 m (144.9 points) and said after his jump: "Honestly, at first I didn't think that this jump is that good, but I just repeated what I did in Oberstdorf. It doesn't feel that stable yet, but it's getting better and better and I gain confidence. Right after the take-off, I don't have a lot of support from the skis, but I keep pushing and then I really have a lot of speed that I can fly well. The telemark was good as well, so I'm happy."
Eisenbichler is currently seventh in the 4-Hills ranking, 20.9 points behind leader Ryoyu Kobayashi.
The Japanese could also show a convincing performance today again, the 2018/19 4-Hills champion finished second, one place ahead of his probably biggest rival, Karl Geiger.
Behind Geiger, the Austrians achieved a strong team result. Jan Hoerl, Daniel Tschofenig, and Manuel Fettner in fourth, sixth, and seventh raised the Austrians hopes of a good result on Saturday, and that even though Stefan Kraft, the best Austrian, failed to qualify for the competition.
Surprisingly, the 28-year-old, who won the 4-Hills-Tournament 2014 /15 and won the World Cup in Klingenthal earlier this season, didn't jump well right from the start today: "Nothing worked well for me today. I tried everything together with the coaches but it just didn't work. This was a really bad day for me, but you have to accept that. I think that I would not be able to jump that short if I wanted to. But tomorrow is a new day and a new year", explained Kraft, whose training jumps today on the Olympic hill were also not good.
The Norwegians, who were so good in Oberstdorf, presented themselves in strong shape again, but Halvor Egner Granerud lost some ground in 27th. It will be interesting to see how he will do in tomorrow's competition.
The competition in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, the traditional New Year's event, is held for the 100th time tomorrow, it starts at 2 pm CET.
)
