Podium premiere at 33: ski jumper Paschke amazes
Pius Paschke was actually always a man of the second ski jumping row. It was not only in terms of performance that the Bavarian often lagged well behind team colleagues such as Karl Geiger and Markus Eisenbichler. In public and in interviews, too, Paschke usually didn't play a major role. That suddenly changed in Ruka, Finland.
When he finished second behind Austria's high-flyer Stefan Kraft with jumps of 142 and 142.5 meters, Paschke was the center of attention. "That means a lot to me. That was really cool. I really like the hill. It's really cool to come second," said the 33-year-old from Kiefersfelden, who actually made his World Cup podium debut at the advanced age of a professional athlete. Paschke was part of the 2021 world champion team and part of the silver team at the 2020 Ski Flying World Championships.
However, he had not had any major successes as an individual athlete to date. After finishing second behind Kraft, he explicitly thanked his sports psychologist in the Finnish flurry of flakes, who had prepared him for situations like the second round. But it wasn't just Paschke who impressed, Stephan Leyhe, Andreas Wellinger and Philipp Raimund were also among the world's best in third, fourth and seventh place.
"Nobody could have expected us to be so far ahead. That was just the start. The season is long," said Paschke. The German team is considered to have good prospects this winter. Surprisingly, former world champion Markus Eisenbichler did not make the squad.
Pius Paschke's podium finish in the World Cup ski jumping event in Ruka, Finland, marked his first individual success at such a high level in Winter sports. This impressive performance resulted in him moving from the second ski jumping row to becoming a notable figure, much like during the World Cup and Ski Flying World Championships where he was part of the winning team.
Following his second-place finish at the World Cup, Pius Paschke expressed his gratitude to his sports psychologist for preparing him for challenging situations, which undoubtedly played a significant role in his impressive performance in ski jumping, including the idyllic discipline of ski jumping known as 'World Cup.'
Source: www.dpa.com
