Ren Nikaido won the Bergisel jumping competition at the Four Hills Tournament in Innsbruck. The Japanese won ahead of Domen Prevc, who came in second and narrowly missed his third win of the day, but is still clearly ahead in the overall standings after three of four stations.
Domen Prevc first congratulated the surprise winner Ren Nikaido, then he took a cautious look at the shining gold eagle: The high flyer of the Four Hills Tournament suffered his first defeat with second place at Bergisel, but the overall victory can hardly be taken away from the Slovenian. Things remain exciting behind: Felix Hoffmann once again showed a strong performance in fifth place and still has his sights on the podium in the final tally.
After his triumphs in Oberstdorf and Garmisch-Partenkirchen, world champion Prevc had to bury his dream of a Grand Slam with victories on all four hills because Nikaido was a bit better in the first World Cup victory of his career.
However, the golden eagle can hardly be taken away from him: before the final in Bischofshofen on Tuesday, he clearly leads the overall standings with a lead of 22 meters over Jan Hörl. The Austrian came fourth on Sunday behind his teammate Stephan Embacher.
Ski jumping: Hoffmann is strong despite the hang-ups, Raimund is giving up
Meanwhile, Hoffmann saved the chance to reach the podium in the finals for the first time in his career; the Thuringian is also fifth overall. He briefly got stuck on the beam before his second jump. “Maybe that’s what it took. I got stuck with the shoe – but then I started sailing,” he said on ZDF. Philipp Raimund also impressed in twelfth place, but lost one place in the overall standings and is now seventh.
In front of 21,125 spectators, including 9,400 Austrians and Germans, Pius Paschke followed in 28th place. The German problem children Karl Geiger (31st) and Andreas Wellinger (37th), on the other hand, did not make it into the second round of the third tournament competition. “Unfortunately I messed up the landing. And that annoys me enormously,” said two-time Olympic champion Wellinger. Geiger saw at least “a step in the right direction.”
Domen Prevc misses Four Hills Tournament Grand Slam
Dominator Prevc received a warning shot on Saturday when he only achieved 30th place in qualifying due to increasing wind – without the bonus points for the adverse conditions he would have even missed the competition. “Luckily it was just the qualification. So: don’t worry, don’t stress, just focus and keep going,” he said afterwards – and followed up with action.
Prevc, like Raimund, also caused a moment of shock in the qualification; both crashed violently into a barrier after landing at too much speed. The DSV eagle even broke it. “I’m doing well so far. I hope it stays that way,” Raimund said afterwards. There were no problems in the competition.
Prevc, Hoffmann and Co. will continue on Monday (4.30 p.m./ARD and Eurosport) with the qualification in Bischofshofen. The Slovenian has never reached the podium on the Paul-Außerleitner-Schanze in his career, and now he can add the Golden Eagle to his collection of titles there for the first time.