Raimund and Wellinger Miss Podium by Narrow Margin

Raimund and Wellinger Miss Podium by Narrow Margin

The German ski jumpers narrowly missed the podium at the pre-final World Cup event in Lahti, but continued their upward trend. During the victory of Slovenian team world champion Anze Lanisek, Philipp Raimund finished in fifth place, marking his best result of the season. Olympic champion Andreas Wellinger took sixth place just six days after winning the Raw-Air tour.

Lanisek clinched his first victory of the season with jumps of 131.0 and 128.0 meters, totaling 276.9 points on the Salpausselkä Hill. Austrian Stefan Kraft came in second (270.8 points), followed by Polish jumper Pawel Wasek in third place (263.9 points).

Raimund flew just one meter short of the podium with 262.1 points (125.0+127.0 meters). Wellinger also finished closely behind with 261.5 points. Pius Paschke, who notably improved, placed twelfth, while Karl Geiger was thirteenth.

Former team world champion Stephan Leyhe wrapped up his career with a 25th place finish. Markus Eisenbichler, who will replace Leyhe in the final event in Planica, is also set to retire after this event.

In the fight for the overall World Cup, Daniel Tschofenig of Austria, who placed seventh, expanded his lead over teammate Jan Hörl, who only managed fifteenth. Tschofenig now has a cushion of 114 points over Hörl heading into the last two individual competitions next weekend in Slovenia.