Wellinger's "brutally difficult path" to a special performance
Only twelve of the past 25 Oberstdorf winners have also won the Four Hills Tournament. For Andreas Wellinger, that doesn't matter after his triumph. Especially as the 28-year-old has achieved something that only two ski jumpers before him have managed.
Beer or champagne? After his emotional ski jumping triumph in Oberstdorf, Andreas Wellinger was looking forward to a liquid reward. "Definitely" he would treat himself to something, said Wellinger on the outrun of the Schattenberg ski jump. Just under an hour after his first victory in the Four Hills Tournament opener, the sold-out arena in the Allgäu with 25,500 spectators had gradually emptied. Thousands of fans had sung the German anthem beforehand, followed by a marathon of interviews.
"It was brutally difficult to get here, which makes me extremely proud," he said, looking back on some difficult years. "Fortunately, I always believed in myself." Wellinger tore his cruciate ligament in 2019, and on Friday he became only the third jumper in the World Cup era (after Dieter Thoma and Norway's Anders Jacobsen) to win a jumping event at the Tournament after such an injury. "I had to bite a lot, but I always continued with determination. I was convinced that I could do it."
The 28-year-old Bavarian rated his victory ahead of Japan's Ryoyu Kobayashi and top favorite Stefan Kraft from Austria very highly. "He's way, way up there. It's difficult to compare with an Olympic victory, but it will be in a similar category. Winning in Oberstdorf at the Tournament - in front of the backdrop - when 26,000 people are waving flags and roaring until you get to the bottom and then you get to see the one light up at the end," said Wellinger.
Opening victory as an omen? Difficult
He had "never" experienced such an atmosphere as during the anthem. "It's really, really nice and emotional for me," said Wellinger. After a rest day this Saturday, the action continues on New Year's Eve with the qualifiers in Garmisch-Partenkirchen. Wellinger is no longer going into the New Year's competition as the hunter, but as the hunted. "I'd say that's a nice starting position," he said with a grin: "The first obstacle has been overcome. The challenge for me now is to jump just as far. If I do that, I can stay in the role of the hunted - and then anything is possible."
A look at the statistics shows that in the recent past, the opening victory is only of limited use as an omen for later triumph in the overall standings. Since 1998/99, only twelve out of 25 Oberstdorf winners have also won the tour. In the last two editions, however, Japan's Ryoyu Kobayashi (2021/22) and Norway's Halvor Egner Granerud (2022/23) both managed a start-to-finish victory.
However, the odds are sobering for the German jumpers: of ten Oberstdorf winners since 1992, only Sven Hannawald came out on top in the overall standings in 2001/02. Karl Geiger last won before Wellinger in 2020 and ended up in second place in the overall standings. But the 28-year-old has already left other supposed certainties behind him.
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Andreas Wellinger's victory in the Four Hills Tournament opener in Oberstdorf was a qualification round for the Winter sports event, as he aims to repeat his success in the remaining three competitions to win the entire Four Hills Tournament. Additionally, Wellinger's triumph in the Four Hills Tournament has made him the third ski jumper in the World Cup era to win an event at the Tournament after suffering a cruciate ligament injury, following in the footsteps of Dieter Thoma and Anders Jacobsen.
Source: www.ntv.de
