The afternoon in Oberstdorf was a meteorological poem: bright sunshine, cool, clear air, spectacular views, before an ice-cold evening followed. The big favorite of this 74th Four Hills Tournament coped best with these conditions in the opening competition on the Oberstdorfer Schattenbergschanze – and by a wide margin.
Domen Prevc from Kranj in Slovenia sailed the furthest through the night in both rounds; he outclassed the competition. He has already achieved this very often this World Cup season and with incredible consistency. In Oberstdorf he landed at 141.5 and 140 meters – that was far too much for the competition.
Prevc ultimately won with a clear 17.5 points lead over the Austrian tour defending champion Daniel Tschofenig. Right behind him was Felix Hoffmann, the best German starter, who made it onto the podium.
Hoffmann benefited from the disqualification of the Slovenian Timi Zajc, who failed the suit check. Zajc was previously listed with the same number of points as Tschofenig, but after his elimination he was completely eliminated from the rankings. In addition to Hoffmann, his teammate Philipp Raimund also placed well ahead in fifth. Both have outstanding chances on the tour – but as things stand, they will be in second place overall.
The gap between Tschofenig, second from Oberstdorf, and the Japanese Ryoyu Kobayashi in sixth place is just 4.2 points; that’s not quite two and a half meters. Prevc’s 17.5 point lead over Tschofenig amounts to a whopping nine meters.
Sixth victory in the 13th World Cup competition for Domen Prevc
This is enormous for a competition and could be an indication that Prevc is not only jumping in the form of his life, but also – like Sven Hannawald in 2002 as well as the Pole Kamil Stoch in 2018 and Kobayashi in 2019 – could win all four competitions on the tour.
Because currently no one jumps as stable, as consistently and simply as well and convincingly as the 26-year-old Prevc. His Oberstdorf success was his sixth victory in the 13th World Cup competition. Of the past seven competitions, he won six and finished one, the tour dress rehearsal in Engelberg, in second place. “He has already shown a few times how good he is,” said national coach Stefan Horngacher.
The Austrian was nevertheless very satisfied with his two best athletes at the moment – “They have shown extraordinary performances”. Hoffmann in particular, who only made it to the top in the world this season at the age of 28, amazed his coach with his poise in the face of a completely euphoric and enthusiastic audience at Schattenberg, not least because of him – the stadium was sold out with 25,500 spectators. “Felix mastered it really well,” Horngacher was amazed.
Hoffmann, in turn, remained true to himself when evaluating his performance (132.5 and 136 meters). He analyzed in a relaxed and calm manner, and it is becoming increasingly clear that it is precisely this inner peace that is currently making him jump off the jumps so successfully. “Except for the dome, everything is close together. I’m happy with both of my jumps,” said Hoffmann. Before Oberstdorf he already achieved a podium finish three times and is sixth in the overall World Cup standings.
Raimund (136 and 133 meters in Oberstdorf) is even better placed in third place. Before the Oberstdorf competition, he was considered the most promising jumper from Horngacher’s squad for the tour. “I’m definitely having fun here,” said Raimund, “I’m very happy overall. It’s super close up to second place.” He himself feels that “I still have room for improvement.”
However, Horngacher is likely to be worried about the performance of his remaining ski jumpers. Nine started in the qualification in Oberstdorf, six made it into the competition, and only two of them reached the second round. This is one of the worst overall results for a German team on the tour. “It was foreseeable that it would be difficult,” said Horngacher.
What is particularly worrying is the fact that the established Karl Geiger did not even make it into the circle of 50 starters for the first tournament competition, while the two-time Olympic champion Andreas Wellinger took 49th place out of 50 participants. “That wasn’t good. But in my opinion that doesn’t detract from the performance of Felix Hoffmann and Philipp Raimund,” Horngacher concluded.
But floating above everyone on this Monday evening in the Allgäu was the Slovenian Domen Prevc, whose brother Peter won the tour ten years ago. And whose sister Nika has a say in the women’s scene. In Oberstdorf, Domen Prevc achieved the first victory of a Slovenian ski jumper in the Four Hills Tournament.
With his victory, he made it onto the podium for the first time in a tour competition. After his coup, he is now the only one left with a chance of a quadruple triumph. It would at least be surprising if he lost his extremely strong form in the next few days.
Station two of the tour is Garmisch-Partenkirchen on New Year’s Day.
“Rule is rule”: inspector declares disqualification
Ski jumping controller Mathias Hafele showed no mercy even at three millimeters. “The rule is the rule. You can’t make exceptions. We don’t make exceptions,” said the Austrian. He had disqualified the Slovenian Timi Zajc at the start of the Four Hills Tournament in Oberstdorf because of a non-compliant suit, thereby depriving him of second place. Instead, the German Felix Hoffmann slipped to third place.
Almost ten months after the suit scandal involving the Norwegians, memories of the World Cup pictures from Trondheim came back. But this time the situation regarding three millimeters of suit length was completely different to that in Norway, when the hosts had illegally sewn a stiff band into the suit. This meant that the rules were deliberately broken in order to make the suit more wearable.
Zajc’s suit was three millimeters too long on the leg. A larger suit offers more surface area, thus ensuring more buoyancy and further jumps. “Let’s stretch the suit a little, maybe then everything will be okay in Ga-Pa,” wrote 25-year-old Zajc on Instagram with a view to the New Year’s jump in Garmisch-Partenkirchen. His teammate Domen Prevc won comfortably.
The strict reaction at the prestigious competition in Oberstdorf was well received by the ski jumping entourage. “I think it’s good. That sets an example,” said former professional Markus Eisenbichler as a Eurosport expert. Hafele himself said that the suit still fit the first time it was tested. “But what they do with the suits afterwards. We can’t control whether they pull them or something. That’s absolutely impossible,” said the Austrian. (dpa)
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