After the dumper at the start of Doroni, Carl Geiger looks like a different person before the New Year’s match at Carmish. This is a sign of a very difficult game mentally – and may come just in time for the DSV star.
The world of ski jumping is upside down during the Four Hills competition. For participants, a globally recognized event represents a ten-day state of emergency. In a mentally demanding sport like ski jumping, this is a special challenge – it naturally causes emotional ups and downs.
Carl Geeker is an example of this. The 28-year-old German top jumper from Oberstdorf carries a load before the 70s Four Hills competition: 20 years ago he was said to be the first jumper after Sven Hannawald – yes, you read that right, how long has it already been – to win a traditional ski jumping competition.
But it is not as easy as it sounds at first. Geiger led the way at the World Cup, was on the podium in five of the nine matches, along with Rio Kopayashi of Japan, the tournament’s favorite. Hannawald, as already mentioned, even said that “20 years should be enough for a German to win again” and clearly mentions Geiger. But in the first match in his hometown of Oberstdorf, Allgäu finished fifth.
At the first Tour Jumping event in his hometown of Oberstdorf, pressure was written on Carl Geiger’s face. (Source: Sven Simon / Imego Images)
The violinist, who usually appears relaxed and egalitarian in interviews, has openly admitted that he has not left himself without a trace for the past few days. “There was a lot of pressure in the store, the level of tension was high – at some point your legs would close,” Geiger said. That too was clearly visible to him. Seventh place went to his friend Marcus Eisenfichler, who never missed the microphone after jumping on the Oberstorf, and Geeker looked tired – he wanted to escape the hustle and bustle and go home to his wife Francesca and one-year-old daughter Louisa. The pressure on Geiger made his coach, Stephen Hornchair, even more anxious – except for the loudspeaker, just like Geiger. But even Hornacher said his show jumper was already “highly electrified”.
Geiger is considered to be really cool, especially in situations like this, especially one that has helped his mental strength to succeed. And his work ethic. This is because the World Cup captain is considered a meticulous worker who has made little progress over the past few years. Three years ago, Geeker – a blank slate on a ski jumping circuit at the time – dreamed In a D-Online interview about his first World Cup victory in an individual competition And described it as “absolute madness”.
A few weeks later, on December 15, 2018, this “madness” became a reality in Engelberg, after which Geeker collected ten more individual World Cup winners. There are ten titles at the Nordic World Ski Championships and success at the 2020 Sky Flying World Championships in Blanica. So, you might think that Geeker, who has a degree in engineering under his belt, has reached the absolute pinnacle of his game.
20 years ago: Sven Hennawald was the last German to win the Four Hills tournament. He won all four matches by a landslide and had his last German victory at Carmisch-Bartenkirchen. (Source: Pressefoto Baumann / imago Images)
The journey is about success
But despite his third-place finish in the 2021 election for athletes, Geiger is far from the level of awareness that triggered the real ski jumping boom in Germany at the start of the Hannavald or Martin Schmid millennium.
The native Bavarian, on the one hand, runs a wood company in Oberstorf, in which the most down-to-earth violinist lends a hand, not showing much media attention. But that, too, is because he lacks a major degree: the Four Hills competition is often considered more important than the Olympic victory in Germany.
And it was before the 2021/22 edition, rather than to start the assigned violinist attack and explicitly aimed at winning the tour as a target – in addition to “I will attack”. This is by no means common to Geeker, who is reluctant to make such statements. But now he saw clearly that the time had come for that. “We were often close enough, and quite statistically it had to work at some point,” he explained – and he meant to himself. Title. But it’s not so easy, especially in a sometimes more complex personal game like ski jumping – Geeger was shown again at the start of the tour in Oberstdorf.
But the small setback there seems to be that the German show jumper is obviously not bad – because the pressure has eased a bit from him. ARD presenter Leah Wagner asked herself in this context: “Has it become a little lighter with a favorite bag?”
After finishing third in the Carmish-Bartenkirsen qualification, Carl Geiger showed himself to the press microphones and was in the mood for humor. (Source: Alexander Kohne / D-Online)
Geeker makes fun of the mountain
Based on the records of the last few days, the answer to this question can be a clear “yes”. Geiger observed finishing third at Silverstead in a qualifying match for the New Year at Karmish-Bartenkirssen. In a media round, D-Online also attended, the 28-year-old family appeared to be more relaxed than they had been for a long time – and was in the mood for humor.
When asked if he wanted to win the New Year event because it was the 100th edition of the New Year event, after a short break, after a mockery of looking at the mountain, he said – well – at least he wanted to try. It. After that, he frowned, not for the first time that day, and it was clearly visible even under his big black mask and distinctive pink hat. Geiger’s anxious lines led to laughter lines.
In the qualifying round for the New Year, Carl Geeker finished third. On Saturday he will face Russian Roman Trophy in the first round. (Source: Daniel Kerman // dpa)
Hannawald was also the last German winner at Carmisch
Anyway: Overall he is six points behind Kobayashi with 295.9 points, which is about three meters on the mountain. Geiger says there are still six great tabs: “Everything is still there.”
To do this, he must confirm himself in the first round today (on T-Online live ticker from 2pm) against the Russian foreigner Roman Trophy. Who knows: maybe he will follow the great Hannawal in one respect – because he was also the last German to win at Carmisch-Bartenkirsn exactly 20 years ago.