Lillehammer - Markus Eisenbichler (33) is "annoyed", Karl Geiger (31) feels like he's "riding a dressage horse", even the level-headed national coach Stefan Horngacher (55) is frowning: a new rule is causing quite a stir in the skijumping circus ahead of the start of the season on Friday.

There is an uproar because the judges are to deduct three points instead of the previous two for an unclean landing.

"To be honest: I think it's totally stupid what the FIS has come up with again. I can't keep quiet anymore because I'm simply losing my patience," says seven-time world champion Eisenbichler. Zimmer colleague Geiger was initially unaware of the new rule. "It was decided in some little room. Then you stand there and think: 'Huh, why?

In May, the FIS world federation announced that it wanted to give telemark landings more weight again. This means that in future, the deduction from the maximum score of 20.0 for a "tiled" landing will be greater than before.

This was surprising, as the style had recently played an increasingly minor role. Initial voices had even called for only the pure distance to be measured. But the FIS went the other way - and is now looking even more closely at the landing.

The rule will be used for the first time in the World Cup on Friday (16:15/ARD and Eurosport) at the mixed competition in Lillehammer.

Eisenbichler fears that good skiers will no longer be able to push their jumps to the limit. "Because if you fly far and mess up the telemark, you might not be on the podium. That's simply not fair," says the Bavarian.

Horngacher expressed himself somewhat more diplomatically. He found the old rule "okay", said the national coach, the new one is "very, very stricter". Horst Hüttel, sports director at the German Ski Association, joined the ranks of the critics: "You want to see long jumps. But at some point it's just damn difficult to show a telemark." The new rule was "not needed in my opinion", said Hüttel.

Geiger also fears there is too much leeway when awarding points. "We're not in figure skating or dressage. We want the longest and best jump to win," says the 2022 Olympic bronze medallist. Of course, "style is part of ski jumping", but the weighting is shifted too much.

And Andreas Wellinger (29)? Arguably the best German ski jumper at the moment, he can also take positives from the new rule. "The good things are rewarded more, the bad things are punished more. I think that's good," says the Bavarian, who is known for his stylistically clean flight.

Because this is also part of the truth: Wellinger in particular could benefit from the changes. It was therefore probably only half-joking when DSV coach Horngacher added with a laugh at the end of his comments: "Maybe we can win the tour this way - by landing."