Mariusyak's misfortune in Engelberg and Vonn's comeback. A recap of the ski week highlights.
Ski Jumping
Events of the Week:
Engelberg (Switzerland), HS 140, individual tournament
Sunday, December 22
Engelberg (Switzerland), HS 140, individual tournament
Unforeseen Circumstances for Marusyak in Engelberg
Following a 12th place finish in the Sunday event in Titisee-Neustadt, Ukrainian ski jumping fans were hoping for new successes from Yevhen Marusyak at the Engelberg stage. However, the weekend in Switzerland turned into a series of unforeseen events for the leader of the Ukrainian team.
Yevhen confidently qualified for his first individual tournament, achieving the 22nd result. The Saturday tournament took place under challenging weather conditions – strong tailwind. Marusyak jumped 126 meters in the first round, which might not have been enough to make it into the scoring zone. He stood in the queue for the top 30 for a long time, missing the last qualifying spot by just 0.1 points.
As the competition progressed to the jumps of the top 10 overall standings, it seemed that Yevhen would finish in a disappointing 31st place. However, luck struck Marius Lindvik, who had a rough time with the wind, allowing Marusyak to advance to the final. In his second attempt, the Ukrainian jumped 126.5 meters and scored 124 points. This would have given Yevhen a 25th result, but after his second jump, he failed the technical control – his suit did not comply with the regulations.
3In such cases, when disqualification occurs in the second attempt, the athlete's result is not completely annulled: points for the first round do not get lost, which brought Marusyak at least 1 point in the overall standings for 30th place. This marked three consecutive points finishes in the World Cup for Yevhen, repeating his best series from the end of the previous season.
Unfortunately, continuing this series proved impossible. On Sunday in Engelberg, the weather was dreadful: once again, there was wind, and on top of that, heavy rain. Due to the unfavorable weather forecast, the qualification, scheduled for 15:30 Kyiv time, was moved to the morning and was ultimately held despite the terrible conditions.
The precipitation intensified during the qualifying attempt, raising concerns about whether the Ukrainian team's service staff would choose the right wax for the skis. Unfortunately, these concerns were validated: Marusyak's speed during the take-off was nearly 1 km/h slower than his neighbors in the starting protocol. Competing for a high result in such a situation was incredibly difficult, and Yevhen sadly did not even make it into the top 50, losing, among others, to his teammate Vitaliy Kalinychenko. The latter, by the way, is gradually improving and is getting closer to his first entry into the main round this season.
Undoubtedly, there are significant questions for the organizers regarding whether it was worth conducting the qualification under such weather conditions, which resembled a farce. Wasn't it simpler to allow all 69 participants to start in the first attempt? Especially since by evening, the weather stabilized, and the main competitions were held under relatively normal conditions.
Marusyak was clearly unlucky in Engelberg, but unfortunately, this is ski jumping, and such occurrences periodically happen to everyone. We can only hope that in Engelberg, Yevhen has exhausted his streak of misfortune and that in the future, particularly during the Four Hills Tournament, he will be able to avoid similar mishaps.
Pashke's Setback, Austria's Triumph
Throughout the initial part of the season, your humble servant has urged not to overestimate the significance of Pius Paschke's successes concerning his chances in the overall World Cup standings. The German veteran has always been considered a pronounced "Decemberist," whose form typically begins to decline sharply at the end of December.
However, no one expected this decline to occur so soon in Engelberg. The Swiss hill brought Paschke his first career victory in the World Cup last year and was regarded as his most successful venue. Yet, it seems that this year, the German's form began to decline right in Engelberg. We could literally observe this process live.
On Friday, while not dominating, Paschke looked very strong in the qualification training: placing 7th, 2nd, and 5th. On Saturday, Pius only managed to close the top 10 – his worst [at that point] result of the current season. A 40th place finish in the Sunday qualification due to very challenging weather conditions should not be taken too seriously, but the main competition did not fare much better: only 18th place. After that, there was no jumper left who had made it into the top 10 in all individual starts of the current World Cup season.
Has Paschke's fairy tale come to an end? It seems so. At least, it's hard to blame his poor performance in Engelberg on an uncomfortable hill. Pius's lead in the overall World Cup standings shrank from 220 points to 79, and it is quite probable that the German will part with the yellow bib during the Four Hills Tournament. Regardless, the start of the 2024/25 season will forever be remembered by both Paschke and fans as a magical period when a long-time mid-level jumper suddenly transformed into the best ski jumper in the world at the age of 34.
4On Saturday, Paschke was supported by Andreas Wellinger and Karl Geiger, who finished fourth and fifth respectively. Wellinger surged from 11th to fourth place thanks to a brilliant second jump, while Geiger fully utilized his known ability to jump with a tailwind.
However, on Sunday, there was no one to support Paschke. Geiger was the best among the Germans, but that was only a modest ninth place. Before the start of the tournament, Karl undoubtedly improved, but not enough to seriously contend for the Golden Eagle. Wellinger finished only 15th on Sunday. It's worth acknowledging that Andreas was unfortunate with the weather conditions twice (specifically, due to snowfall in the first attempt, Andy did not show his characteristic acceleration), but it's equally clear that the two-time Olympic champion is lacking stability at the start of the season. And stability will be crucial during the Tournament, especially since it seems that Wellinger will be Germany's main hope in the overall standings.
The second echelon of the German team also did not save them from failure: Markus Eisenbichler, Adrian Tittl, and Philipp Raimund did not even make it into the second attempt. Consequently, they scored only 58 points in the Nations Cup, less than, for instance, Switzerland. This was undoubtedly the worst performance by the German team in the current season and one of the most significant failures in recent years.
The Austrian team fully capitalized on the German team's problems, transforming the Engelberg stage into their own triumph. On Saturday and Sunday, Jan Hörl and Daniel Tschofenig took the top two spots, and on Sunday, Stefan Kraft also joined them on the podium. However, Kraft still lacks stability – he only placed 14th on Saturday. His performance dynamics closely resemble that of Wellinger. As for Hörl, on Saturday, he landed on both feet in the first attempt, and the judges again did not notice this, awarding the Austrian scores as if it were a full telemark. Considering that Jan outperformed Tschofenig by 6.5 points, it cannot be said that the judges deprived Daniel of victory, but the systematic nature of the judges' ignoring Hörl's landing mistakes is becoming apparent.
Meanwhile, Michael Hayböck finished in the middle of the second ten in Engelberg twice – a stark contrast to his brilliant performance in the Sunday tournament in Neustadt. Of course, it cannot be said that Michael's success was accidental, but it turned out to be just a one-off bright flash.
It was very interesting to observe the performances of Markus Müller, who shone at the start of the season in the Continental Cup and got a chance in the World Cup, replacing Manuel Fettner. And the 22-year-old Austrian's performance left a mixed impression. On the one hand, he had decent performances in training, finishing 24th and 11th (his best result in the World Cup) in the main competitions – a very respectable performance. However, considering that Fettner had locked in the top 6 a week ago in Neustadt, this lineup change did not justify itself.
After Gregor Deschwanden's brilliant performances at the start of the season, many expected that he would finally secure his first career victory in the World Cup at the home stage in Engelberg. Unfortunately for the local fans, this did not happen: he finished third and fifth. Killian