Immediately after his final landing in the ski stadium in Bischofshofen, Domen Prevc was seen on the shoulders of his Slovenian teammates Anze Lanisek and Rok Oblak, up there with his skis in the air.
Prevc came second on Epiphany and was still the big winner on that ice-cold evening in Pongau. Because he won the 74th Four Hills Tournament – and with a huge lead over the Austrian Jan Hörl, his first pursuer in the overall ranking. Later, last year’s Austrian winner Daniel Tschofenig handed over the trophy for his tour triumph, the Golden Eagle, to his successor.
Tschofenig found this new role “extremely cool” because “the Domen jumped extremely well and brilliantly, he totally deserved the victory”. However, Tschofenig was also a winner on Tuesday evening because he won the final competition of this tour.
First pair of brothers to win the tour
Prevc himself was very moved in the minutes after his great success and said: “For me, a childhood dream has come true. I’ve dreamed of this since I was a little boy, especially after my brother Peter won the tour ten years ago.” Since Tuesday evening, Domen and Peter Prevc have become the first pair of brothers to win this trip over the four jumps.
What’s more: Domen and Nika Prevc, two siblings, lead the overall World Cup rankings for men and women – something that has never happened before. “The fact that I was able to receive the Golden Eagle almost blows me away, I’m full of emotions,” said Domen Prevc. This success and in general this amazing series of seven victories in the last ten World Cup competitions “doesn’t just happen. It is the result of hard work and dedication to the sport,” he explained.
During the tour, the 26-year-old Slovenian was the great ski jump sovereign. He won the first two competitions in Oberstdorf and Garmisch-Partenkirchen, and finished the other two in Innsbruck and Bischofshofen in second place. This also means that with this shape, Prevc is also the top favorite for the Ski Flying World Championships in Oberstdorf in two and a half weeks.
Especially since this type of ski jumping suits this aesthetic sailor very much. The individual and team world champion from Trondheim 2025 is also favored in both individual competitions at the Olympic Games at the beginning of February on the ski jumps in Predazzo.
Nothing to gain for the German jumpers
The German jumpers acted in the shadow of Prevc, the day’s winner Tschofenig and the tour runner-up Hörl on this tour. On Wednesday, after third place in Oberstdorf and two fifth places in Garmisch and Innsbruck, Felix Hoffmann from Thuringia reached tenth place, which resulted in sixth place in the overall tour rankings.
However, Hoffmann already suffered from irritation in his left knee in Innsbruck and also in Bischofshofen, which hurt him below the kneecap when landing. The injury will be checked promptly using an MRI scan, after which it will be decided whether Hoffmann will also take part in the next World Cup in Zakopane or whether he will have to take a break.
Philipp Raimund also clearly jumped with a handicap on Tuesday. A cold with a sore throat and severe cough robbed him of much of his strength. National coach Stefan Horngacher said that Raimund was already lying exhausted on a mat while warming up in a gym.
Horngacher then said: “Philipp, you can’t jump like that.” Raimund said: “Yes, I definitely want to tackle it.” In the end, after a strong first jump and a weaker second jump, he reached twelfth place in the daily rankings and eighth place in the tour rankings.
Horngacher sent Raimund to bed to regenerate immediately after the competition. The coach assumes that he will also use his top jumper in Zakopane. His out-of-form athletes Pius Paschke, Karl Geiger and Andreas Wellinger will also be used there. Geiger and Wellinger did not make it into the second round in all four tour jumps. Geiger even failed to qualify for the opening competition in Oberstdorf.
Horngacher needs two of these three jumpers alongside Hoffmann and Raimund for the four-man team competition at the Ski Flying World Championships in front of the home crowd in Oberstdorf. “All three have made progress here, I assume that they will continue to work their way forward,” said Horngacher.
Wellinger and Paschke will not take part in the World Cup competitions in Sapporo in mid-January. They should continue to work on their form in special training units. Geiger, on the other hand, should take off in Japan – unlike Hoffmann, Raimund, Paschke and Wellinger, he still lacks the standard for Olympic qualification.
