Die beste: Ski jumper Nika Prevc
Tension is different. Before this year’s Four Hills Ski Jumping Tournament (from December 28th to January 6th), it was assumed that there would be a duel between the two dominators of the previous World Cup season, the Slovenian Domen Prevc and the Japanese Ryoyu Kobayashi. Nothing came of this duel. Kobayashi didn’t get past sixth place in the opening competition in Oberstdorf and only made it onto the podium with third place in the final competition in Bischofshofen. In the overall ranking of the tour, he took fifth place, behind his compatriot Ren Nikaido, who won his first World Cup competition in Innsbruck. Prevc, on the other hand, won so convincingly in Oberstdorf and Garmisch-Partenkirchen that the tour was practically already decided. In Innsbruck and Bischofshofen he followed up with second places and easily brought the sheep into the dry. Due to the two second places, Prevc failed to do something that only Sven Hannawald (2002), the Pole Kamil Stoch (2018) and Kobayashi (2019) had previously achieved, namely winning the tour with four individual victories.
Things went as expected for the jumpers from the German Ski Association (DSV). The high-flyers Philipp Raimund (SC Oberstdorf) and Felix Hoffmann (SWV Goldlauter) proved to be just as solid as they had been all season: Both were in the top twelve in every competition, but it wasn’t enough for the big hit. In the end, only one podium place was possible, and that was for Felix Hoffmann in third place at the opening competition in Oberstdorf. In the overall ranking, Hoffmann finished sixth, Raimund came eighth.
At the other end of the spectrum are the veterans Andreas Wellinger (SC Ruhpolding), Karl Geiger (SC Oberstdorf) and Pius Paschke (WSV Kiefersfelden). Wellinger and Geiger never made it to the final of the last 30, Paschke achieved his best placement in Garmisch as 21st. Let’s hope that one or the other gets into shape before the Olympic Games in Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo in February. The German ski jumpers are actually guaranteed a medal at major team competition events, but under the circumstances it will be difficult against Slovenia, Austria and Japan.
The material once again caused discussions during the tour. After the scandal at the Nordic World Ski Championships in Trondheim in March 2025, when a secret video showed the Norwegian team deliberately manipulating the jump suits, this time the Slovenian Timi Zajc was disqualified for having a jump suit that was too long – twice! The result was exclusion from the entire tour. First, Zajc was disqualified after his second place in Oberstdorf, and then in Garmisch, before the competition even started. The chief inspector of the International Ski Association, Mathias Hafele, surprised him in Garmisch with an unusual check that morning.
To the layperson, it may seem ridiculous to disqualify a jumper for a suit that, as in Zajc’s case, is three millimeters too long, but all experts agree that the additional buoyancy it creates in the crotch can lead to longer distances. After the embarrassing incidents at the World Cup in Trondheim, there was hardly anyone who stood by Zajc. The four-time ski jumping world champion and current TV expert Martin Schmitt simply said about the double violation of the rules: “I think it’s cheeky.”
Things didn’t look much better on the women’s Two Nights Tour, which was held parallel to the Four Hills Tournament in Garmisch-Partenkirchen and Oberstdorf. In Garmisch, the Norwegian Anna Odine Strøm was disqualified for wearing an extra sole. This also increases the buoyancy area in the step, as it sinks. The fact that Strøm’s extra sole was not found in her shoe but in her sock suggests deliberate manipulation. “Material doping” is a popular term in ski jumping. Of course, those responsible for the Norwegian team didn’t see it that way. Strøm has been suffering from a hip problem since a fall in Engelberg in 2023, which makes it necessary to wear the extra sole. A medical certificate was subsequently submitted and Strøm was actually allowed to compete again in Oberstdorf. A compromise was agreed upon: the extra sole can be included, but it must be worn in the shoe and not in the sock.
The Slovenian Nika Prevc won the Two Nights Tour. If the last name sounds familiar, don’t be mistaken: she is the younger sister of Domen Prevc, whose older brother Peter Prevc won the Four Hills Tournament in 2016. A whole family as high flyers.
Nika Previc won the Two Nights Tour for the third time – it hasn’t been held more often. The German participants held up well, especially Selina Freitag (SG Nickelhütte Aue). As second from Garmisch and third from Oberstdorf, she finished second in the overall Two Nights Tour ranking. Agnes Reisch (WSV Isny) and Katharina Schmid (SC Oberstdorf) took ninth and tenth place.
A few days before the Two Nights Tour, seven-time world champion Schmid (formerly Althaus) announced her retirement from competitive sports after the end of the season. This is also a shame because Schmid will miss an event that she has fought for for years: the Four Hills Tournament for women. Shortly before this year’s tour, the organizers in Innsbruck announced that an agreement had been reached with the Austrian Ski Association and the state of Tyrol to build a floodlight system in the Bergisel Stadium. The federal government is also helping to raise the five million euros allocated for this purpose. The facility should also make it possible for men and women to jump on the same days in Innsbruck, meaning that logistically nothing stands in the way of a joint tour.
This also increases the chances of another victory at the Four Hills Tournament for the DSV. Maybe the women will take the chestnuts out of the fire. There hasn’t been a German winner since Sven Hannawald’s triumph in 2002. At 24 years, the current dry spell is by far the longest for ski jumping Germany in the history of the tour. Especially when the GDR still existed, there was no shortage of victories. Germany was clearly better in ski jumping back then.
