Ski jumping: One year after the coma

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Daniel-André Tande (above)

Photo: Terje Bendiksby/EPA

Daniel-André Tande celebrated an emotional victory at the Ski Jumping World Cup in Norway.

The local hero, who was in a coma for several days after a serious fall in Planica in March 2021, prevailed on Sunday at the famous Holmenkollen ahead of Slovenian Anze Lanisek and Austrian Stefan Kraft.

Kraft thus secured victory in the overall ranking for the "Raw Air" competition series in Norway.

The TV pictures showed how Tande cried at the finish, his ski jumping colleagues took the 28-year-old on their shoulders.

About a year after his serious fall in Planica, Tande celebrated another World Cup victory and was visibly overwhelmed by it.

"Congratulations to him for making it so good," said German national coach Stefan Horngacher.

"We're all glad he's back."

Horngacher's top jumpers were also happy - even if neither Karl Geiger nor Markus Eisenbichler made it onto the podium.

"The jump was really nice and I'm glad I was able to fight my way up a bit," said Eisenbichler, who followed up his second place on Saturday in the dress rehearsal for the Ski Flying World Championships with fourth place.

Eisenbichler took fourth place as the best German, Geiger finished fifth.

In the overall World Cup, however, the man from Oberstdorf made up nine points to the leader Ryoyu Kobayashi, who finished seventh.

Geiger is still 58 points behind the Japanese.

»Today all the jumps were on a good level.

I'm very satisfied," said Geiger on ZDF and added: "Now we can go skiing."

Before the last highlight of the season next weekend, the past competitions make both Geiger and Eisenbichler confident.

"I hope that we can both sail again this year," said Geiger.

At the last World Flight Championships, Eisenbichler finished third, perfecting the strong German result in Geiger's triumph.

In Vikersund, the two are among the podium candidates again.

ara/dpa