Pius Paschke impressed even without a win at the start of the Four Hills Tournament. The 34-year-old ski jumper from Kiefersfelden, Bavaria, took fourth place in Oberstdorf.
Pius Paschke waved to the 25,500 fans in the Oberstdorf cauldron with a tender smile, received pats on the back from his teammates and then clapped for triumphant Stefan Kraft.
At an Austrian ski jumping gala, the great German hopeful got off to a good start in the 73rd Four Hills Tournament with fourth place. The dream of a tour miracle is alive – but it will be damn difficult against the outstanding Austria trio for strength.
“I’m very happy, it was really cool in front of the crowd, I risked everything and was at the limit. I had fun when I was at the front, but it’s good that way,” said Paschke.
After two strong jumps of 138.0 and 133.5 m (323.6 points), Paschke had a sniff of the podium, but in the end the Austrians were a corner stronger – Paschke was one and a half meters short of third place.
Ski jumping: “Relief” for Pius Paschke
Kraft, who had celebrated his first of 44 World Cup victories at the same place exactly ten years earlier, triumphed with flights of 138.0 and 135.0 m (335.1) ahead of Jan Hörl (331.6) and Daniel Tschofenig (323, 6). It was the first triple victory by a nation in a competition competition in 13 years – at that time also through Austria (Schlierenzauer, Kofler, Morgenstern) in Oberstdorf. “It’s fantastic that it’s working out like this,” said Kraft, Austria’s last tour winner so far in 2014/15: “You always have to believe in it.”
The last German triumph by Sven Hannawald was 23 years ago, the road to the gold eagle is long for Paschke: With a gap of around eight meters, Paschke travels to the second stop on the tour in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, where the qualification for the New Year’s jumping is scheduled for the following day (2:00 p.m./ARD and Eurosport).
In the sold-out Schattenberg Arena, what had already been indicated in the qualification was confirmed: Paschke is no longer as superior as he was in his five victories in the first eight competitions of the season, but he has the “Engelberg dent” (tenth place and 18th place briefly before Christmas).
“There was some relief, that’s why I’m relaxed,” said Paschke, who didn’t want to be influenced by the competitors’ performances: “What the Austrians do isn’t important at all. I concentrate on my things.”
And he did it well: In the first round, Paschke initially took the lead; it was his best jump since his double victory in Titisee-Neustadt in mid-December. “That was cool, it was fun. I was able to use the emotions here,” said Paschke. And instead of five Austrians like in qualifying, only Kraft and Hörl were ahead of the German number one at halftime. “The package has been blown up,” said ZDF expert Severin Freund.
“Total crash” from DSV-Adler Leyhe
What does the victory in Oberstdorf mean for the tour edition? Not necessarily a lot: of the 25 most recent winners at Schattenberg before Kraft, only twelve also won the tour. The German record is even more impressive: there have been twelve DSV victories in Oberstdorf since 1992 – only Hannawald subsequently won the Gold Eagle.
On the sidelines of the Paschke show, some of the other Germans dropped significantly. Only Karl Geiger and Andreas Wellinger made it into the second round. Geiger, Oberstdorf winner from 2020, came in a good eighth place on his home hill after an outstanding second round. Wellinger, who had triumphed at Schattenberg last year, struggled with 20th place: “That wasn’t successful.”
After disappointing performances, Philipp Raimund (40th), Adrian Tittel (44th) and Stephan Leyhe (48th) were eliminated in the first round. “A total crash,” said Leyhe, who wasn’t helped by the fantastic atmosphere in the stands. “The scenery was amazing,” said Geiger.