Four Hills Tournament in the live ticker: Innsbruck – Eisenbichler needs miracles

Four Hills Tournament live: Qualification in Innsbruck (Monday, 1.30 p.m.)

10.30 a.m.: Welcome to the FOCUS Online live ticker! The qualification in Innsbruck starts at 1.30 p.m.

Markus Eisenbichler’s emotional New Year’s jump also has a noticeable effect on the following day of travel. At his furious place at the start of 2022, the 30-year-old offered an impressive air show.

Eisenbichler couldn’t hide the fact that the second act of the Four Hills Tournament was also a big disappointment for the German ski jumping team. Despite the best conditions, the first touring title in 20 years is as far away as it has been in a long time.

The hope of the greatest carrier Karl Geiger Feld with his seventh place far behind and can tick off the overall ranking according to his own assessment. “For me, if everything goes normally, it is no longer possible,” said the completely frustrated Oberstdorfer. “It sucks that it happened again on the tour.”

German jumpers with the largest half-time deficit since 2015

Geigerkrieg as overall World Cup leader and in the form of his previous sporting life traveled to the hill spectacle. His deficit on the outstanding tour leader Ryoyu Kobayashi, who won in Garmisch just eleven centimeters ahead of Eisenbichler, is almost 18 meters before the third competition in Innsbruck.

Eisenbichler replaced Geiger in Garmisch-Partenkirchen as the best DSV eagle in the tour evaluation. As fourth with almost twelve meters distance to Kobayashi, he is not really close either. The half-time gap between the best German and the leader in the overall tour standings was greater in the 2014/15 season.

Even before the competition at the infamous Bergisel in Innsbruck on Tuesday, where the touring dreams of German jumpers often end in the past, only a kind of ski jumping miracle seems to help – even if national coach Stefan Horngacher spreads optimism.

“We’re not going to throw in the towel and say it all sucks. It’s basically still good,” said the 52-year-old Austrian before leaving with the team in his home country. “We are in half-time. We are very good and we will give everything that we may still be at the top in Bischofshofen.”

Horngacher’s hope: “The Four Hills Tournament has its own rules. You always have to stick with it and stay on it if someone else makes a mistake.” “A lot of bizarre things have already happened”.

Eisenbichler takes on the leading role in the German team

However, it seems very unlikely that Kobayashi of all people will fail. The overall tour winner of 2018/19 jumps exceptionally stable, did not let himself be disturbed by a positive Corona test this winter and won the yellow jersey of Geiger’s World Cup leader on New Year’s Day – although he had missed two individual competitions.

The 25-year-old jump “extremely well and iron everything down,” said Horngacher. In his opinion, Geiger and Eisenbichler are among the few jumpers who can beat the taciturn Japanese during the days of the tour.

How Mann defeated Kobayashi on Bergisel was shown by Eisenbichler at the World Cup almost three years ago. The Siegsdorf won ahead of Geiger. Kobayashi finished fourth. After Geiger’s setback, “Eisei” took over the leading role in the German team. However, he refrains from declaring war: he “doesn’t really care” about the ranking.

In any case, buddy Geiger keeps his fingers crossed: “I hope that he still annoys him and that we can still get the thing.” The next clues as to how promising this mission could be can be found in the Innsbruck qualification.