Geiger celebrates first German win in Klingenthal
Dec 09, 2023·Ski Jumping
Karl Geiger has won the first of two Ski Jumping World Cups in Klingenthal (GER). The 30-year-old German achieved his first victory in over a year in a spectacular long jump. In the final, Geiger came out on top ahead of Austria's Stefan Kraft and Japan's Ryoyu Kobayashi.
The 8,000 spectators in the arena in Kingenthal really got their money's worth that evening.
Despite dense fog, which at times was more reminiscent of the Holmenkollen in Oslo than the Vogtland, the athletes put on a top-class ski jumping show.
Karl Geiger flew 144 and 146 meters in his much-acclaimed success: "The first jump today was incredibly good, and when I was able to show such a good jump again in the second round, I was extremely happy. I didn't expect it to go so well today. I enjoyed every second of the podium ceremony today," explained the day's winner, for whom it was his 14th World Cup victory in total; Geiger's last win came in Neustadt (GER) in January 2022.
With his success, Geiger prevented Austria's Stefan Kraft from achieving his fifth success in a row.
Kraft flew 140 and 144.5 meters and finished just 1.2 points behind Geiger. "Yes, it was a really cool competition. I think everyone who watched today is really excited. I was able to take the momentum with me and I knew that I was in very good shape. I certainly made my best jump of the weekend in the second round and we can build on that," said a delighted Kraft, who is now clearly leading the overall World Cup with 480 points ahead of Andreas Wellinger (320 points, 4th place today), Karl Geiger and Pius Paschke.
With places one, four and five (Geiger, Wellinger, Paschke), the German team achieved another top team result this winter in Klingenthal.
Stephan Leyhe finished in 14th place.
The Slovenian Anze Lanisek was also convincing in 6th place and provided the highlight of the competition in the final with a magic jump of 146 meters (3 x mark 20).
Gregor Deschwanden, Michael Hayboeck, Johann Andre Forfang and Jan Hoerl completed the top 10.
Antti Aalto (22nd) and Giovanni Bresadola (24th) collected points for Finland and Italy.
The second competition in Klingenthal starts on Sunday at 16:00.
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