Guess the Four Hills Tournament
“Suspicious” Austrians: Is that the reason for the success?
January 6, 2025 – 8:48 a.mReading time: 3 minutes
The dominance of Austrian ski jumpers is the main topic at the current Four Hills Tournament. The competition hardly wants to believe that they are simply better than the rest.
Stefan Kraft, Jan Hörl and Daniel Tschofenig are separated by a maximum of 1.3 points at this Four Hills Tournament. That’s the equivalent of 72 centimeters. The three Austrians have dominated every competition so far and will take the overall victory this Monday in Bischofshofen. Pius Paschke, the best German, has no chance in sixth place. National coach Stefan Horngacher has already stated: “The tour is over.”
However, the dominance of the Austrians is viewed critically by the competition. The Norwegian Halvor Egner Granerud said after the opening competition in Oberstdorf: “If I had been Gregor Deschwanden or Pius Paschke, I would probably have been quite suspicious. It is strange and very unusual for a nation to dominate the way it does now. ” However, Granerud did not make any specific accusations against the Austrians.
Former Olympic ski jumping champion Maren Lundby was a little clearer. “That’s suspicious. They’ve been good all year and as soon as the Four Hills Tournament comes around, they’re even better,” she told the Norwegian TV station NRK. Former jumper Andreas Stjernen suspected at Viaplay that “their equipment is much better than that of their competitors.”
The Austrians fought back. Daniel Tschofenig responded to the allegations: “You can spy as much as you want. We have nothing to hide.” ÖSV head coach Andreas Widhölzl described the speculation as “nonsense”. “These are not new suits, we have had them since Lillehammer and they have also been approved several times by Fis material controller (World Ski Association, editor’s note) Christian Kathol,” the Tyrolean now stated in the Austrian “Kleine Zeitung” clear. According to his analysis, the better jumping technique is the reason for success.
But in Norway and Poland people are now certain: it’s not the technology. The suits aren’t the reason for success either – but the shoes. Former jumper Anders Jacobsen analyzed on the Viaplay microphone that the Austrians had “done something cool with their shoes”. “This is what it looks like when they enter the flight phase.” Because the skis go straight forward at the time of take-off, he believes “there is something in the shoes.”
The Polish media “sport.pl” came to the same conclusion, citing its own information that the Austrians had worked on details in the shoes that help especially in the first phase of flight. This is about the shoe tongues, i.e. the point that connects the shoe to the suit.
The Norwegian broadcaster NRK also sees the reason for the dominance in the shoes, quoting former ski jumper Johan Remen Evensen: “I suspect that the Austrians have made their shoes flatter. So that they sit better when running up and have a better starting position.” Evensen didn’t provide any proof of this, but added: “From what I can tell, they just have a better setup on their shoes than the rest.”
The fact is: The Austrians did not violate the regulations, Fis controller Christian Kathol made that clear once again.
The German national coach Stefan Horngacher is hardly interested in the debate anyway: “You don’t have to look for things from other teams, we have enough to do with ourselves.” Pius Paschke did not see the current performance as a reason for speculation. “The Austrians skied very well from the first World Cup this season. And if I hadn’t won five World Cups before the tour, they would have had many more podium places,” the DSV Adler is sure.