Ski Jumping World Cup in Willingen
Wellinger flies in the rain to a celebrated home victory
First Andreas Wellinger has to get off the beam again, then he can start – and jumps very, very far. The top German jumper wins the home World Cup in Willingen. The longest flight of the day was achieved by a Slovenian.
Ski jumper Andreas Wellinger celebrated his second victory of the season at the home World Cup in Willingen after a strong comeback. In the constant rain in Hesse, the 28-year-old jumped 139.0 and 149.0 meters and won on the Mühlenkopfschanze, as he did in 2017. After the first round, the runner-up in the Four Hills Tournament was still in seventh place.
“This is unbelievable. It really rained a lot today. A lot of rain,” said the completely soaked Bavarian. “The second jump was really good. I didn't think it would be enough for victory until the end.” The rest was cheering. “Thanks to everyone who waited so long in this crappy weather and cheered us on.”
As the constant rain affected the inrun track at the Mühlenkopfschanze and the wind kept changing, the second round was in doubt. Wellinger, who had already won the home game in Oberstdorf, relegated tournament winner Ryoyu Kobayashi from Japan to second place in adverse conditions. Swiss Gregor Deschwanden came third. The Pole Aleksander Zniszczol, who was surprisingly in the lead after the first round, fell back to eighth place.
Leyhe finishes eleventh, Geiger again eliminated in the first round
After no German jumper was able to place in the top ten on Saturday, Wellinger had to step off the beam twice before his final jump because of the wind. But he kept his nerve and gained six places with a long jump.
The second best German was Stephan Leyhe in eleventh place. Yesterday, Saturday, the local hero, who celebrated his only World Cup victory in his home country in 2020, achieved the best result for the disappointing DSV Eagles in 15th place. Pius Paschke (25th) and Philipp Raimund (26th) also made it into the points. The former Willingen winner Karl Geiger and Felix Hoffmann missed the second round twice.
The Austrian Stefan Kraft, who is leading the overall World Cup and who surprisingly missed the second round on Saturday in 39th place, came sixth this time. The Norwegian Johann Andre Forfang, who had raised the hill record to 155.0 metres with his victory the day before, had to settle for 14th place. The longest jump of the day was made by the Slovenian Timi Zajc with 153 metres. Last year he fell on landing at the same place after flying 161.5 metres.
