Ski jumper Daniel Tschofenig won the Four Hills Tournament for the first time. The Austrian celebrated his third win of the day in Bischofshofen and intercepted his teammates Stefan Kraft (3rd) and Jan Hörl (2nd).
Daniel Tschofenig flew to the tournament throne with nerves like steel wires, the German ski jumpers were once again just extras: Youngster Tschofenig won the historic heart-stopping final of the 73rd Four Hills Tournament and was the first Austrian to win the gold eagle in ten years.
“It hasn’t quite sunk into my head yet,” said Tschofenig on “ZDF”. “I celebrate very relaxed because I don’t drink alcohol anymore.”
The best DSV eagle at the furious finale in Bischofshofen was Andreas Wellinger in ninth place.
The 22-year-old Tschofenig jumped to 136.0 and 140.5 m at the red-white-red festival. That was enough to win the day ahead of Jan Hörl – but above all to beat his teammates Hörl and Stefan Kraft (3rd) in the overall ranking. to be relegated to the places as close as possible. In the end there were only 1.4 points between Tschofenig and Hörl – it had only been closer three times in 73 years of touring.
Austria’s dominance was also overwhelming in the final: it was the Austria-Adler’s third triple victory on this tour. Eleven of the twelve podium places went to the ÖSV – the hosts easily pulverized the previous record of nine podium places by Finland (1954/55) and Austria (2011/12).
Great Four Hills Tournament from a German perspective
The German hopeful Pius Paschke flew to twelfth place at the end of what was, from a German perspective, a poor tour. The five-time season winner had traveled to the “Four Hills” as the leader in the overall World Cup and therefore as one of the favorites, but had to ungrudgingly acknowledge the superiority of the ÖSV Adler. Sixth place in the overall ranking was still the best tour result for the 34-year-old .
“We went in with great ambitions, but unfortunately we got worse rather than better. Austria is very far ahead, all the other nations are biting their teeth – including us. We have to accept that,” said national coach Stefan Horngacher on ZDF. Philipp Raimund (15th) and Karl Geiger (both Oberstdorf/23rd) also collected points on Monday – in contrast to Adrian Tittel (Aue/33rd) and Felix Hoffmann (Goldlauter/36th).
“There was a bit of tension, unfortunately things went in the wrong direction,” said Horngacher. The only consolation: two years ago the performance was even worse, back then no German even made it into the top ten.
Ski jumping: Daniel Tschofenig also at the top in the overall World Cup
The man of the day was Tschofenig, who had only celebrated the first World Cup victory of his career in December. During the tour he won the New Year’s competition in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, led at half time, then fell back to third place – and struck back in Bischofshofen. He is now also ahead in the overall World Cup.
14,300 spectators in Bischofshofen witnessed a real crime thriller: there was not even a meter between Kraft, Hörl and Tschofenig before the last station; there had never been such a close three-way battle in the history of the tour. Kraft led after the first round, but Hörl (3rd) and Tschofenig (5th) didn’t let up.
“The two of them did something brutal,” said Kraft during the break: “The jump was really courageous, there was really dead air at the top. I’m glad that it still went that far. It’s a brutal crime thriller, the best should win .” Tschofenig pulled away in the second round.
Austria’s dominance was reminiscent of 2012, when Gregor Schlierenzauer, Thomas Morgenstern and Andreas Kofler managed the last of only three tour “sweeps” (to Finland in 1955 and Austria in 1975). Now number four was added on a memorable day.