Eisenbichler only 32nd in innsbruck qualification. – kobayashi in front
Markus eisenbichler wanted to forget his failed flight as quickly as possible, while his rival ryoyu kobayashi, wearing the yellow jersey, celebrated the prize money of 5000 euro.
In a gripping duel with the german challenger, the japanese landed a clear points victory in innsbruck and won the qualification with 126.5 meters. "Now i’ve missed one," said eisenbichler, who had rowed wildly with his arms in flight and landed after just 116 meters. "It wasn’t a grenade, but it was only the qualification, thank god," eisenbichler found.
Since the qualifying points do not count towards the overall ranking, the 27-year-old german hopeful can cope with the slip-up. "Check off the jump," said eisenbichler and looked ahead to the bergisel jump on friday (14.00 a.M.). Theoretically, the mixed qualifying jump can even have a positive effect: eisenbichler now jumps about half an hour ahead of kobayashi in the first round, and in this time span the conditions can always change on the always unpredictable hill. "I’m not worried about that at all," eisenbichler said about it.
"It was a similar qualification as in oberstdorf, that happens once in a while. He knows what he has to do. That is losbar. We will only be able to answer the question of who is better on the hill tomorrow at 4 p.M.," said national coach werner schuster on ARD television. Already at the start in allgau eisenbichler had failed the qualification in such a way that he finished 30th. Went into the jumping and from there took the lead in the competition. The siegsdorfer and series winner kobayashi are currently separated in the overall tour ranking by 2.3 points, which is less than one and a half meters. "Markus must now find his way back in, we are now back in everyday life," demanded schuster after the rest day.
Rumors about the 49-year-old had arisen again at the third tour stop in tirol, because austria’s sports director mario stecher had openly spoken out for a commitment of the coach with an expiring contract. "The DSV is currently in constructive and very substantive talks with schuster," said a spokesman for the german ski federation (DSV) at the hill. During the tour these talks are suspended, but a decision could be made before the world championships in seefeld (from 19. February fall.
For the ambitious eisenbichler the trainer question does not pay at the moment, he hunts for the roughest success of his career. "It gives me security that i can make the quali even with a really bad flight. The last two competitions are history, now we have to work normally again. I also feel fit", explained "eisei", who wanted to study his first jumps in tirol again on video in the evening.
Besides eisenbichler also karl geiger (6.), stephan leyhe (8.), richard friday (12.), constantin schmid (30.) and david siegel (33.) qualified. Olympic champion andreas wellinger had the worst time, who finished 47th in innsbruck after two no-shows in oberstdorf and garmisch-partenkirchen. Almost missed the qualification. "The consistency is not there and then it is much more difficult than one would imagine. I have to keep going and stabilize things," said a somewhat perplexed wellinger, who is increasingly affected by the deep. On friday he meets at the K.O.-duel on the strong austrian daniel huber.
