Domen Prevc, beaten for the first time, is flying towards victory in the Four Hills Tournament, the top German ski jumpers have to make do with supporting roles: With his second place in Innsbruck, Prevc took the next step towards a great triumph at the traditional event. Felix Hoffmann took fifth place as the best German with jumps of 126.5 and 130.5 meters. Philipp Raimund came twelfth.
The Japanese Ren Nikaido secured victory in a thrilling competition. The Austrian Stephan Embacher came third. Before the big finale in Bischofshofen, Prevc leads with 41.4 points over his first pursuer Jan Hörl. The last time the Japanese Ryoyu Kobayashi was more than 40 points ahead at this point was in 2019. He then also won the Golden Eagle.
Prevc wins both stations in Germany
In bitter cold and bright sunshine, 21,125 spectators made the pilgrimage to Bergisel. They celebrated a big ski jumping festival in the sold-out stadium high above Innsbruck city center and opposite the mighty Nordkette.
Prevc jumped 129.5 and 128 meters. Winner Nikaido landed after 131 and 128 meters. Even if Prevc is now no longer the fourth athlete after Sven Hannawald, Kamil Stoch and Kobayashi to win all four competitions on a tour: he has shaped the 74th edition since day one.
In Oberstdorf and Garmisch-Partenkirchen he won with a clear margin. The “crazy bird”, as the former jumper and Eurosport expert Markus Eisenbichler called him, traveled to Innsbruck with a gigantic lead of around 20 meters over second-placed Hörl.
The 26-year-old showed weakness for the first time in the qualification at Bergisel. In very difficult conditions with a tailwind, the man who holds the distance world record with a flight of 254.5 meters only jumped 112 meters. This placed Prevc in 30th place.
“It’s at least nice to see that he’s not a machine and can’t just conjure up every jump in any conditions,” said Raimund afterwards. When it came down to it in the competition, Prevc delivered as usual.
Wellinger and Geiger still in crisis
While Hoffmann and Raimund are well on their way to achieving their best tour result, the guarantors of previous success continue to struggle with their form. Andreas Wellinger and Karl Geiger are currently extremely far away from the top of the world. Both were eliminated in the first round. Geiger came 31st, Wellinger took 37th place. Pius Paschke jumped to 28th place.
Geiger’s reaction made it clear how bad things are going. The Oberstdorfer wasn’t at all dissatisfied with his jump of 121 meters. “I hope that the direction is the right one and then things will get better again at some point,” said the 32-year-old on ZDF.
The jumpers will continue this Monday. The qualification takes place in Bischofshofen at 4.30 p.m. (ARD and Eurosport). There hasn’t been a German individual victory at the end of the tour since Sven Hannawald in 2002.
