Andreas Wellinger went into the grand finale of the Four Hills Tournament as a hunter, as a challenger to the leader and two-time winner Ryoyu Kobayashi – but in the end it was the Japanese who celebrated this Saturday evening in Bischofshofen. The 27-year-old was simply too strong on the final day, winning the overall ranking ahead of Wellinger and the Austrian Stefan Kraft.
The long wait for the German ski jumpers to win the tournament continues. Andreas Wellinger, the 2018 Olympic champion, had a great chance in the first three stations, but it seems like a darn thing from a German perspective. But the 28-year-old won’t leave as a loser. On the one hand, because for 22 years no German ski jumper was as close to the prestigious triumph as he was. Wellinger caused euphoria. But above all because this tour marks his final return to the top of the world after tough years – even without victory.
Third tour success: Andreas Wellinger congratulates Ryoyu Kobayashi
Source: AFP/KERSTIN JOENSSON
The fourth and final competition was won by Stefan Kraft in front of 14,300 spectators ahead of Kobayashi and Anze Lanisek from Slovenia. Wellinger finished fifth and defended second place overall after a strong tour. “First of all, congratulations to Ryoyu Kobayashi,” says national coach Stefan Horngacher. “But I’m very happy with Andi. Unfortunately today’s jumps didn’t go quite as well as we would have liked, but he can be proud of what he achieved on this tour. He put on an amazing show until the end.”
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The initial situation before the final in Bischofshofen was as follows: While two other Germans, Karl Geiger and Pius Paschke, had been at the top of the World Cup before the Four Hills Tournament and were considered co-favorites, only Andreas Wellinger was able to fulfill the expectations and hopes. His victory at the start in Oberstdorf, his first ever on the tour, was a milestone for him. Afterwards he said: “Right now it’s the biggest thing for me. The journey here was hard. It makes me extremely proud.” After third place on New Year’s Day and fifth place on Bergisel, he was now 4.8 points, the equivalent of 2.67 meters, ahead of the finale, behind Kobayashi, who had come second in Oberstdorf, Garmisch-Partenkirchen and Innsbruck .
Wellinger beforehand with a declaration of war
The Japanese is familiar with tour victories: in 2018/2019 he won all four competitions, marking the first victory by a Japanese since Kazuyoshi Funaki in 1998. He relegated Markus Eisenbichler and Stephan Leyhe to second and third place at the time. Karl Geiger was left behind in his second tour triumph in 2021/22. But none of the Germans had such a narrow gap to Kobayashi before the final as Wellinger does now.
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Both know and like the ski jump in Bischofshofen, but in the qualification on Friday the Japanese shone as the winner, while Wellinger was too late at the jump table and came ninth. And that is exactly the challenge in Bischofshofen: Because of the long, flat inrun track, there is a risk of jumping off too early or too late. “Ryoyu is the favorite,” said Wellinger, but was relaxed and combative: “It was a little wooden for me, but that doesn’t mean anything, the decision will be made on Saturday.”
In the first round, with a light tailwind and blowing snow, he got a much better jump, even if he was still a bit late. 132 meters – and his reaction afterwards? No cheers, but no anger either. It was difficult to estimate what the jump was worth, especially since Kobayashi wasn’t there until 15 minutes later. His family was shaking at the jump, mother Claudia told ARD: “You hold your breath and think: Come on, another meter, and another meter.” She weighed in: “The jump was definitely good, but let’s wait and see .” And knowing that Kobayashi would increase his lead, she added: “We’ve already experienced a lot in ski jumping.”
Better, but not good enough: Wellinger reacts after the first round
Source: dpa/Daniel Karmann
And the Japanese kept his nerves under control: he managed the longest jump of 137 meters – that meant he was in the lead after the first round. Wellinger was in eighth place and now 19 points behind Kobayashi in the overall standings. It took a little ski jumping miracle to catch up with this deficit. But it didn’t happen. Kobayashi is currently jumping too well, too consistently and too cool. In the second round he completed his third tour triumph.
It started with Helmut Recknagel
A look back: Ten German athletes have won the tournament so far, three of them even several times: Jochen Danneberg (70) won twice in the 1970s, Helmut Recknagel (86) three times before and Weißflog even won four times between 1984 and 1996. Only the Finn Janne Ahonen achieved a more tour triumph. However, the Germans’ clear lead with 16 victories in the national rankings has dwindled in recent years – Austria drew level with its series of seven successes between 2009 and 2015, while in this country the wait never ends.
Germany’s tour king: Here Jens Weißflog celebrates a jump on the 1996 tour in Innsbruck
Source: picture alliance/HJS-Sportfotos/Hans-Jürgen Schmidt
It has now been 22 years since Sven Hannawald finally became a celebrated sports star with his victories on all four ski jumps. After that, there was a lull for many years, the German jumpers disappeared into mediocrity, until the then national coach Werner Schuster, with a restructuring and continuous work, led the team back to the top and to the team Olympic victory in Sochi in 2014. Wellinger, then just 18, did his part.
Sven Hannawald celebrates his tour success with national coach Reinhard Hess
Source: picture alliance / picture alliance / press photo Ulmer
Winning the tour just doesn’t work. In the past eight years – even before this day – a German was in second place four times, including Wellinger once. But it just wasn’t enough to get to the top. And so the longing of the team, but also that of the fans, grew; but at the same time there is also the feeling that in the end it just won’t be enough. But the annual questions didn’t annoy Wellinger. Before the start of the tour, he said: “We want victory as much as every spectator. We want a jumper with a German flag to finally be able to stand at the top again on January 6th.”
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And he had already achieved something historic once: When he crowned himself Olympic champion at night in February 2018 under the floodlights of the ski jump facility in Pyeongchang (South Korea), it was the first gold coup by a German in 24 years, since Jens Weißflog’s second individual Olympic victory.
Wellinger was unable to end his dry spell on tour this Saturday evening, now his eyes are moving on: to the Ski Flying World Championships and the overall World Cup. And then to the Four Hills Tournament 2024/2025.
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