The third competition at the Four Hills Tournament – and the first time with real excitement. After Domen Prevc’s one-man show in Oberstdorf and Garmisch-Partenkirchen, things got much tighter at the Bergisel jump in Innsbruck on Sunday (January 4, 2026).
Four pilots were almost level after the first round. In the end, Ren Nikaido was ahead in the third competition of the Four Hills Tournament. Of all people, the Japanese, who had not yet won a World Cup competition, ended Prevc’s dream of winning all four competitions. The Slovenian came second in Innsbruck. Austria’s 19-year-old shooting star Stephan Embacher came third in front of 22,500 fans.
From a German perspective, Felix Hoffmann was once again convincing. With 126.5 and 130.5 meters, the Thuringian landed in a strong fifth place and remains on course for a podium place as fifth in the overall tour standings.
0.5 points missing Prevc
Nikaido shared the lead with the Austrian Embacher at half-time. The next Austrian, Jan Hörl, followed just 1.1 points behind. Domen Prevc in fourth place was only 2.5 points behind the two leaders.
Ren Nikaido celebrates his victory in Innsbruck
In the final, high-flyer Prevc, who had had painful experience with Mount Doom in qualifying, had to submit. The Slovenian, who leads the Four Hills Tournament by a large margin, went on the attack and landed at 128 meters.
Jan Hörl, third after the first round, was unable to counter and fell behind after 126 meters. When Nikaido sailed to 128 meters, the computer spit out 276.5 points – 0.5 points more than Prevc. The Slovenian ended up second, just ahead of Embacher, who fell to third with 127.5 meters.
Hoffmann stumbles and then flies far
Felix Hoffmann had reason to celebrate, as he confirmed his impressive form in Innsbruck with jumps of 126.5 and 130.5 meters and came fifth. The Thuringian high-flyer caused a moment of shock. He got stuck when he pulled the trigger and literally stumbled into the run-up lane. Nevertheless, Hoffmann kept his nerve and sailed to 130.5 meters. He moved from sixth to fifth place and is in fifth place in the overall ranking of the tour.
Philipp Raimund finished the jumping and quite turbulent days in twelfth place. On Saturday he crashed into the barrier while running out, and on Sunday he got stuck in the elevator. All these background noises rolled off the 25-year-old. He showed two good attempts (126 m/125 m), but no outliers and missed another result in the top ten.
Paschke wants lightness
A top ten placement is currently a long way off for Pius Paschke, but at least it was enough for the final on Bergisel. However, the Kiefersfeldener had to tremble after 119.5 meters because he narrowly lost his duel against the Swiss Gregor Deschwanden (120 m). 0.6 points pushed Deschwanden into the final and Paschke onto the lucky loser list. The DSV veteran made it into the second round in 26th place via this “detour”, where he was unable to convince with 118 meters and ended up in 28th place. “It’s a shame, my idea is good, but it lacks the ease to implement it“, says Paschke.
Pius Paschke is still clearly lagging behind.
Geiger and Wellinger miss the final
Baking small rolls continues to apply to Karl Geiger (Oberstdorf) and Andreas Wellinger (Ruhpolding). For the two DSV problem children, qualifying was already a success. In the competition it was only enough for one jump. Geiger (121 m) flew past the final by a whisker as sixth in the lucky losers, but was still not dissatisfied with 31st place and, like national coach Stefan Horngacher, spoke of one “small step in the right direction”.
Wellinger (37th) was also eliminated after the first round. 120 meters wasn’t enough to win the duel against Stefan Kraft (123.5 m). The distance might have been enough for a jump into the final via the Lucky Loser, but Wellinger caught a wave while jumping up and slipped away. The “shitty landing” affected the posture grades – and ultimately caused the ski jumping Olympic champion to retire.