“Like a gutted bird” – Wellinger loses touch with the world’s best amid new suit rules

Andreas Wellinger has unexpectedly lost contact with the ski jumping elite at the opening World Cup weekend in Lillehammer. The 2014 Olympic team champion and 2018 normal hill Olympic champion left Norway without any World Cup points after a qualification disaster on Saturday and failing to reach the second round on Sunday—an alarming sign in an Olympic season.

ARD ski jumping expert Sven Hannawald said after reviewing Wellinger’s jumps that “the ski still hangs dead on the foot,” noting that such issues won’t be fixed easily. Wellinger himself told Sportschau: “If you’re at the bottom, it can only go up,” but admitted, “It’s crap what I produced yesterday and today. I’m hanging over the edge like a gutted bird. There’s no lightness. Ski jumping doesn’t forgive mistakes right now, and I’m making too many of them.”

Hannawald pointed to two factors: signs of struggle already visible in the summer and a rule change after last season that tightened suit allowances. “Sometimes a new rulebook suits certain jumpers and not others. Wellinger fit the old rules—now, fundamentally, nothing seems to match anymore.”

Wellinger agrees, explaining that unlike previous years he can’t get into the high flight path he needs for long jumps: “The airliner accelerates on the runway but never keeps the nose up to gain altitude. That’s my jump at the moment, and then I’m hanging out there like a gutted bird.”

The timing is poor. Wellinger had targeted a renewed attack on the Four Hills crown, aiming to finally bring the golden eagle back to Germany—Hannawald remains the last DSV winner. Meanwhile, teammates Felix Hoffmann and Philipp Raimund celebrated third and fourth places in Lillehammer, underscoring how far the field—and perhaps the new regulations—have moved on.

With a home Ski Flying World Championships in Oberstdorf and the Olympics in Italy still ahead this season, Wellinger’s priority is to “rebuild feeling” and confidence. The next chance comes quickly in Falun, where he hopes to rediscover his timing and regain altitude in flight—because in ski jumping, “gutted birds” don’t fly far.