Four Hills Tournament in Bischofshofen
“Got worse than better”: DSV Adler are struggling before the final
Updated on January 5, 2025 – 6:17 p.mReading time: 2 minutes
After Oberstdorf, Garmisch-Partenkirchen and Innsbruck, the ski jumpers start in Bischofshofen. The Austrians impressed again in the qualification.
The Austrian Stefan Kraft won the qualification for the final of the Four Hills Tournament in Bischofshofen. The 31-year-old ski jumper won with a jump of 142 meters ahead of his compatriot Maximilian Ortner and the Swiss Gregor Deschwanden.
The best German was Andreas Wellinger, who finished in ninth place. After jumping, he said on the ZDF microphone: “Overall, I’m satisfied.” The mood in the team is good despite the declining performance. “That’s why it’s hard work little by little. We have to push ourselves and take small steps forward,” continued Wellinger.
The other athletes from national coach Stefan Horngacher’s team, Pius Paschke, Philipp Raimund, Karl Geiger, Felix Hoffmann and Adrian Tittel, also qualified for the competition on Monday (from 4:30 p.m. in the live ticker on t-online). However, the Germans will have nothing to do with the fight for the Golden Eagle for the winner.
The three Austrians Kraft, Jan Hörl and Daniel Tschofenig are likely to win among themselves. There are only 72 centimeters between leader Kraft and third-placed Tschofenig. In the qualification, Tschofenig took fourth place, Hörl came sixth.
Of the German team, Paschke is still the best in the race in the tour standings, coming in sixth. However, at 21 meters, he is too far behind the podium to have any serious hopes of a top-three finish.
Paschke also lost his yellow jersey, which he had worn as the overall World Cup leader at the beginning of the tour. “We went in with great ambitions, but unfortunately we got worse rather than better,” said Horngacher on ZDF.
On Monday, the DSV Adler will compete in knockout duels, as is usual on the tour: Wellinger will face the Czech Roman Koudelka, Paschke will have to prove himself against Norway star Halvor Egner Granerud. Raimund will face Naoki Nakamura (Japan), Geiger will face Sakutaro Kobayashi (Japan), Hoffmann will face Johann Andre Forfang (Norway) and Tittel will face Benjamin Oestvold (Norway).