Karl Geiger won the first German podium finish this winter at the Ski Jumping World Cup in Nischni Tagil, Russia. He finished second behind surprise winner Yukiya Sato after a jump of 130 meters. For the 24-year-old Japanese, it was the first World Cup success. Third was the Austrian Philipp Aschenwald.
"Karl is doing a great job, we have to keep working, maybe he can be at the top tomorrow," said New Germany coach Stefan Horngacher.
The athletic lows of world champion Markus Eisenbichler, however, continued at the third World Cup weekend of the ski jumpers. After being last in the opening competition in Poland and 23rd in Finland after a close qualifier, he missed the second round in Russia.
About six inches were missing
Eisenbichler took 31st place after a jump on 114 meters. He missed a tenth of a second, the equivalent of 5.55 centimeters, for the qualification. Horngacher said on ZDF: "I think we have no choice but to continue to work continuously, and at some point Markus will ski very well again."
Second best German jumper was Stephan Leyhe in tenth place. Richard Freitag (18th), Moritz Baer (19th), Constantin Schmid (23rd) and Pius Paschke (28th) also made it to the points.
The lead in the overall World Cup was defended by the Norwegian Daniel Andre Tande, who won the first two, but this time only 21st.
