Pius Paschke came fourth at the start of the Four Hills Tournament in Oberstdorf and is 13.8 points behind leader Stefan Kraft. The 34-year-old doesn’t want to bury his tour hopes just yet. And it doesn’t have to be.
Pius Paschke’s second jump on the Oberstdorfer Schattenbergschanze wasn’t quite as successful as his flight in the first round. The reaction of the man from WSV Kiefersfelden was accordingly. After landing he appeared unsure, as if to say: ‘It could have been a little more’.
A look at the tableau confirms this impression. Paschke travels to the New Year’s competition in Garmisch-Partenkirchen in fourth place, 13.8 points behind Kraft. Are all hopes of the first tour victory since Sven Hannawald 23 years ago already over?
Paschke is happy about a “very good fourth place”
After the competition, the 34-year-old was much more positive again. “It was a cool competition, it was really fun in front of the backdrop,” said Paschke on the ARD microphone, who said he was “very satisfied” with the “very good fourth place”. “It was a good competition for me. The second jump was at the limit and very sharp,” continued Paschke.
National coach Stefan Horngacher was also not in the mood for pessimism. At the forefront, the head of the DSV Adler was happy that one of his protégés jumped at the front. In view of the Austrian superiority, which occupied all of the top five places in the qualification and also colored the podium in red-white-red at the start, it was a legitimate thought.
Horngacher was asked whether it was even possible to beat the Austrians: “Yes, with good ski jumping performances,” was his short but precise answer. “Pius was close today. He jumped well, but not very well. If he does two very good jumps, he can win it too.”
History gives Paschke hope
He also “didn’t want to get nervous because the Austrians won here,” continued Horngacher, who also knew how to assess Paschke’s jump and the resulting deficit of 13.8 points: “There’s still a bit of a gap, but we have it “We still have a few competitions to go,” said the national coach calmly: “Anyone who knows the tour knows that something is always happening somewhere.” Converted, the gap is currently around 7.5 meters. And there are still six competition jumps to complete.
A look at history provides additional hope. In the last ten years, no fourth-placed player from Oberstdorf has ultimately won the tour. But it’s about the points anyway. David Kubacki made an unprecedented comeback in 2019/20. After two third places in Oberstdorf and Garmisch-Partenkirchen and a second place at Bergisel in Innsbruck, he took the lead in the overall ranking and brought it to the finish in Bischofshofen. The Pole left Oberstdorf 10.4 points behind and ended up winning the Golden Eagle by almost twenty points.
In the last 50 years, a gap of ten points or more has been made up seven times. Exactly 40 years ago, Jens Weißflog took overall victory despite being 18.7 points behind after the first competition.
Pius Paschke: From the hunted to the hunter
In addition, the DSV eagles have rarely been able to cope with the role of the hunted in the recent past. Andreas Wellinger won the opening competition last year and remained in the lead in the overall standings even after his third place in the New Year’s competition. In the Bergisel Wind Lottery in Innsbruck, all tour hopes were dashed with fifth place. The Bergisel has also been fatal to Karl Geiger in the past.
This year Pius Paschke is the hunter. Stefan Kraft now has the pressure, but knows how to deal with it. The experienced 31-year-old won the tour in 2014/15. Paschke, who says he feels completely comfortable in the role of hunter, doesn’t want to look too much at the overall ranking yet anyway. “For us, every competition is a single World Cup and at the end we add it all up,” said Germany’s biggest hope on the tour and his coach added: “We’re there, we know that and it’s just starting now.”
Source: BR24Sport December 30, 2024 – 6:30 p.m
