“It’ll take me a while to get over it.”
Tour favorite on the ground after the final – criticism of the jury
January 7, 2025 – 7:39 a.mReading time: 2 minutes
Before the final competition in Bischofshofen, things looked very exciting at the top of the tour. But the final attempts were also influenced by the wind.
In the end it was only third place for Stefan Kraft at the Four Hills Tournament. And that despite the Austrian winning two of the four competitions. Before the final in Bischofshofen, Kraft had also led the rankings. But that final ended in disappointment for Kraft, who only managed 137.5 meters in the second jump, while his compatriots Daniel Tschofenig (140.5 meters) and Jan Hörl (143 meters) continued to fly.
In the winning photo, Kraft was only at the side of Daniel Tschofenig, who won the title. “Of course you are very sad and very disappointed. I would have imagined the picture differently, but that’s sport, that’s part of it. We knew that little things would decide,” he was quoted by the “Krone” afterwards. “It will take me a few days to get over the whole thing,” added Kraft.
The little things Kraft was talking about lay in the conditions in which he had to jump. Because the wind was no help to the 31-year-old. “You also need a bit of luck if you want to win the tour,” he summarized, but also explained on the Eurosport microphone that the conditions were not fair.
He therefore also criticized the jury. “She always does the same thing: They start too high and then get into trouble. We (the last jumpers, editor’s note) always jump from gate 10 or 11, and then the others start from gate 13 or 14,” complained he. Kraft had to wait a long time before his final jump due to worsening wind conditions. “It’s not fun to wait 15 minutes upstairs in your shoes and ski boots. That’s bad for your legs, which have to be explosive – and then that explosiveness is lost,” says Kraft.
But he didn’t want to assume that those responsible had any ill will: “I always say to myself: Thank you for waiting. You wait until the conditions are better or optimal. That’s always in the back of your mind.” After all: Stefan Kraft has already won the Four Hills Tournament once. In 2014/15 he finished ahead of compatriot Michael Hayböck and the Slovenian Peter Prevc.