Last year Stefan Kraft tragically failed to achieve his second overall victory at the Four Hills Tournament. Now he is starting his 15th tour again as the most hopeful Austrian – and yet so many things are different this winter than in previous years.
A year ago, the winds were raging in front of the very last jumper at the decision of the Four Hills Tournament in Bischofshofen, of all people in front of Pongau’s Stefan Kraft, who led confidently after the first round at the last stage of the tour and was on the verge of his second overall victory not far from home.
Kraft had to wait for minutes, something like that gets on his nerves, something like that cools down the body that is actually ready to jump. And so it happened as it had to happen: Kraft did jump at some point, but he never really found his way into flight and fell back. Kraft’s first overall victory since 2014/15 was a thing of the past, and Kraft was disappointed with the result.
Stefan Kraft has learned from the situation in Bischofshofen
“I just learned from this situation”says Kraft in an interview with the Austrian agency APA today. “If something like this happens again, I will deal with it better and demand more advances.” In fact, no other jumper sailed down the jump in front of him for several minutes.
In the end, the Austrians still celebrated a triple triumph, but the veteran Kraft was the unhappy face. In third place, in the final tally only 4.1 points behind the winner Daniel Tschofenig, the second Jan Hörl was only 1.4 points behind the tour winner.
For the first time as a dad Four Hills Tournament
This year the 32-year-old is taking part in the prestigious competition for the 15th time, and yet so many things are different than in previous years, because Kraft is traveling to Oberstdorf as the undisputed strongest Austrian, where the tour starts on Sunday with the qualification (live on the Sportschau from 4.30 p.m.). Kraft has a clear goal: “When we come to Austria, I want to be in a position where you can still be involved in the music. I want to play a piece on the tour.”
He is currently seventh in the World Cup – even though he missed three competitions due to the birth of his daughter. He had previously celebrated a win of the season – and briefly wore the yellow jersey. This is also new, Kraft is traveling to the first tour stop as a dad for the first time.
After all his successes, Kraft is confident – and on the hunt for records
It seems as if fatherhood has made the laid-back Austrian become a little more relaxed: “If I hit the jumps halfway, I’m totally into it”he says – especially after all the successes of previous years including three overall World Cup victories. “Whenever it was about something, it was always the best jumps, and that makes me positive.”
This is another reason why he is once again one of the favorites at the Four Hills Tournament. He’s still chasing his second overall victory. If he were to triumph a second time after eleven years, it would even be a record; six years (for Jens Weißflog 1989/90 and 1995/96 and Gregor Schlierenzauer 2006/07 and 2012/13) between two overall victories was the maximum so far.
Last year, Kraft won at the start in Oberstdorf: “You have that in your head”
This fact shows that the tough force, who has always been able to adapt to all the rule changes of the past few years “a little bit” better than the rest, has stayed at the top of the world for as long as probably no jumper before him.
Ideally, Kraft’s tour should start like last year, when he won in Oberstdorf ahead of Hörl and Tschofenig: “You already have that in your head and it gives you something.” In Kraft’s opinion, the tour should end differently this time and without drama – with Stefan Kraft smiling at the result.