Domen Prevc flew and flew and flew, and he didn’t want to stop flying at all. He landed at 140 meters in the second round of the opening competition of the Four Hills Tournament in Oberstdorf. His first jump even carried him 1.5 meters further. And Prevc, who had previously achieved five World Cup victories in a row up to the stop in Engelberg, didn’t even raise his arms in the air in such an exuberant way. The 26-year-old Slovenian already knows how to cheer. In the end, Prevc was 17.5 points ahead of defending tour champion Daniel Tschofenig from Austria. These are worlds in ski jumping.
Since Prevc’s second-placed compatriot Timi Zajc was subsequently disqualified because his suit was too big, fourth-placed Felix Hoffmann still ended up on the podium. Philipp Raimund, who like Hoffmann had sometimes jumped outstandingly in the World Cup in recent weeks, also impressed in fifth place. The duo had already confirmed the hopes of their compatriots in the first round, Hoffmann ended up in sixth place and Raimund in seventh place. Now they are at least going to the second competition on New Year’s Day in Garmisch-Partenkirchen with the feeling that they can keep up with the big boys.
“I tried to soak it all up and take it with me,” Hoffmann said on ARD that the excitement was okay: “The second jump was more on the sharper side, but it worked out just as well.” Raimund found: “My jumps are at a good level, but there is still room for improvement.”
The 74th edition of the Four Hills Tournament began in Oberstdorf with a dream day full of sunshine, a ski jump on Schattenberg that was sold out with 25,500 spectators since the beginning of September – and, with the exception of Hoffmann and Raimund, a rather sobering first round for the German ski jumpers. Pius Paschke (33rd), Luca Roth (45th), Andreas Wellinger (49th) and Constantin Schmid (50th) all missed the final round – a bitter disappointment, especially for Paschke and the already weak Wellinger: “Today I had a really hard time again with the feeling that I was driving cleanly through the radius. It’s just a drag and drop when I go into flight much too quickly, just short of it Edge, without energy and height gain,” said Wellinger. The team’s balance sheet didn’t really read well, even after Karl Geiger’s exit from qualifying, who ended up in 53rd place on Sunday.
:For Karl Geiger the tour is almost over
For Karl Geiger, all hopes for the Four Hills Tournament end before it has really begun. The five-time world champion failed to qualify at the start in his hometown of Oberstdorf – and spoke of a “hit in the toilet”.
Oberstdorf had dressed up for the ski jumpers’ Grand Slam start, even if the media volume has noticeably decreased since the corona pandemic. Spectators are still streaming into the market town in Oberallgäu, DJ Niklas Bitzenauer hosted an après-ski party in the center on Monday, and live music with the “Riedberg Partyband” was on the program at 7:30 p.m. By midday, a kilometer-long queue of ski jumping fans had already fought its way through the town center up Roßbichlstrasse and Schanzenstrasse to the Arena am Schattenberg.
Past the steam beer brewery (motto: “Where hearts jump”) with its strictly limited ski jumping beer, the Oberstdorf wood carving factory, the traditional inn “Zum wilde Männle”, the elite sports school including the DSV training base and the Schützenhaus (“last stand in front of the ski jump”). At the top, wearing black, red and gold hats, a group of eight fans from SG Dinkelsbühl-Segringen predicted the result: “Raimund third, he was strong in the qualification, Hoffmann in the top ten,” said their spokesman Jörg Müller. It was 20 years ago that they were last ski jumping in Oberstdorf, and now they were once again mingling with the spectators in the full stadium. A couple in the group celebrated their wedding anniversary, and their 86-year-old grandfather was also there – but the group wasn’t quite right with their prediction.
Actually, Oberstdorf has always been a good place for the Germans, with a total of 23 daily victories they lead the historical rankings by far. However, neither Wellinger nor Geiger managed to win the tour in their most recent opening victories in 2023 and 2020. And now they were literally crashing.
Prevc is now going into the three upcoming competitions as the top favorite
And even after the first competition, it looks like the longing to choose a successor to the last German overall winner Sven Hannawald (2001/02), which has existed for almost a quarter of a century, remains a longing. Hoffmann is already 19 points behind Prevc, but only two points behind second-place Tschofenig.
Prevc, the dominator of this season, is now the top favorite for this tour in the next three competitions. Before Christmas, the Slovenian said in Engelberg: “The secret is to be consistent every day and to work towards being the best every day.” And when asked whether he now sees himself as the favorite for the Four Hills Tournament, he replied: “I think I should adopt this mentality. On the other hand, I also have to remain humble and be aware that the work won’t get done by itself.”
But somehow it looked as if Prevc was sliding down the Schattenberg ski jump as if guided by magic.
