Karl Geiger reclaims Ski Jumping World Cup lead as German squad look to dominate at Beijing Olympics
BySportsbeat
Updated 22/01/2022 at 20:00 GMT
The German took the yellow bib off Japanese jumping star Ryoyu Kobayashi in Saturday's competition in Germany. Geiger said: "It's really unbelievable, especially on this hill. In previous years I've always had really big problems here and now I get it and it makes me a bit proud. I'm unbelievably happy."
Karl Geiger in Titisee-Neustadt
Image credit: Getty Images
Karl Geiger reclaimed the ski jumping yellow bib after a huge final jump in Neustadt, Germany.
The 26-year-old was able to seal the victory with the biggest jump in the competition, measuring 141m, to make himself the fourth German man to claim an individual win at the venue in Titisee.
Gaining 288.3 points in Saturday's competition meant Geiger was able to reclaim the yellow bib from rival Ryoyu Kobayashi to put him back at the top of the World Cup rankings, 11 points ahead of the Japanese jumper.
Kobayashi was unable to secure his seventh World Cup win of the season, and found himself down in fifth place after two standard jumps at 133m and 131m but will be determined to fight back as the men go again on Sunday.
Geiger said: "It's really unbelievable, especially on this hill.
"In previous years I've always had really big problems here and now I get it and it makes me a bit proud. I'm unbelievably happy.
"I've been fighting to get it back. To win again and get the bib back is great, I can't stop smiling.
"Hopefully the same tomorrow, good jumps like today. I'll try to have fun and prepare to show my best jumps."
Geiger was joined on the podium by Slovenian Anze Lanisek, and fellow German team-mate Markus Eisenbichler.
Eisenbichler's second jump of 132m was eclipsed by Lanisek, who measured 134.5m on both occasions.
Both Germany and Slovenia are on fine form ahead of the upcoming Beijing Winter Olympics, with three Slovenians and four Germans in the top ten at today's event.
German coach Stefan Horngacher added: "Karl has always been on a good level, but the rest of the team were not so strong and so really happy with the whole team making good jumps today.
"Karl's second jump was unbelievable - his competition today has been on a very high level - and Markus showed a good performance too. I'm really satisfied.
"I hope that we can do almost the same going forward - that we can have the podium today and prove that we have a good team behind Karl."
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