Once again, the German jumpers were left without a victory at home. And it’s been 21 years. At the Garmisch-Partenkirchen station, the second round of the Four Trampolines, the German Markus Eisenbichler was left with the honey on his lips when he was outmatched in the last jump of the day by an imperial Ryoyu Kobayashi who, without a doubt, has recovered the version that two years ago made him sweep in this competition, prevailing in the four tests of the contest. It seems that in this edition he is going the same way, adding his second consecutive win by only two tenths of an advantage over Eisenbichler. Slovenian Lovro Kos closed the podium.
The top fifty of the classification from December 31st opened in 2022 in Garmisch-Partenkirchen. And seen the results, the battle promised. Timi Zajc dazzled with a 137-meter jump to win his tie, indicating that the windy conditions were conducive to watching long attempts. He was followed by Jan Hoerl with 137.4 m who were in nothing before the great protagonists of the day: Kobayashi and Eisenbichler. The Japanese, second in the classification, hit the table with 143 meters, that is, only one behind the historical record of this springboard. The German kept the type to fly 141 meters, so he practically left the final round in a heads-up between them.
In the final batch there were no surprises. Perhaps disappointments, with the signing of a Karl Geiger (until now leader of the World Cup) who with a last discreet jump of 127.5 m had to settle for the final seventh place. In the face of the last jumpers, the wind conditions changed and the snow lost consistency, favoring the characteristics of the small Kobayashi (1.73 m and 60 kg). However, Eisenbichler put the swords high with a colossal flight, the highest of the day and half a meter from the springboard record of 143.5 meters. Kobayashi, thanks to his first round lead and style points, was worth a 135.5m jump to win. And that was just what he did to seal his victory by the slim 0.2-point margin over the German. Two out of two for Kobayashi in this Four Trampolines and new leader of the World Cup. Can you start the year in a better way?