Stefan Kraft wins on Bergisel and leads the tour – albeit by a very thin margin. Pius Paschke squandered his last chance.
When the beaming winner Stefan Kraft ordered lasagna and eggnog for the red-white-red ski jumping party, Pius Paschke also finally gave up. “The three at the front are just extremely good right now and are in the flow that I was in a few weeks ago,” said the Bavarian after eighth place in Innsbruck, which meant the end of all tour dreams. Hosts Austria, on the other hand, celebrated their next triple victory – and are now looking forward to a real thriller in the fight for the gold eagle.
“This is a very special day. This victory is a childhood dream,” said Kraft, who won on Bergisel for the first time with flights of 131.5 and 132.5 m ahead of Jan Hörl and Daniel Tschofenig. In the overall standings, things are now very tight ahead of the final on Monday in Bischofshofen (4.30 p.m./ZDF and Eurosport): Kraft leads with 887.1 points, just ahead of Hörl (886.5) and Tschofenig (885.8).
Paschke (847.5) remains sixth, now well behind. Jumps of 128.5 and 123.5 m were once again not enough for the podium. “We have to live with it. The tour is over, the Austrians will decide that among themselves,” said national coach Stefan Horngacher.
“We’ll be back next year”
While everything points to the first tour victory by an Austrian in ten years, the DSV Adler’s lull that has been going on since Sven Hannawald’s Grand Slam in the winter of 2001/02 will continue. “You have to accept and respect that. Unfortunately it didn’t work out. We’ll be back next year,” said Horngacher.
Paschke ended up in the top 10 again after finishing fourth and ninth at the German stations, but again it wasn’t enough for the podium. “Everyone is their own luck. Something is missing for me, there’s not quite the ease. And then a few meters are missing,” said the Bavarian.
In front of 22,500 spectators in the arena, which was sold out for the first time since 2016, including a good half from Germany, the DSV team also fell short of expectations across the board. In addition to Paschke, only Andreas Wellinger (13th) and Philipp Raimund (15th) made it into the points. Karl Geiger (34th), eighth in the overall ranking before the competition, missed the second round, as did Felix Hoffmann (44th) and Adrian Tittel (45th).
Austria show at the Four Hills Tournament
On the other hand, it’s all sunshine and roses in Team Austria, which was not deterred by speculation about a supposed “miracle suit” and hidden ties and achieved its first triple victory in Innsbruck since 1975. On Saturday, six ÖSV Eagles ended up in the top twelve.
The biggest laugh belongs to strength. “I’ve just ordered a lasagne. And my wife gave me eggnog yesterday, so I’m going to buy a round of it on the bus. But we’ll save the big party for Bischofshofen,” said Kraft, who is almost there statistically: In the most recent 25 tours, only the Norwegian Daniel Andre Tande lost the overall victory as leader after Innsbruck in 2016/17.
Things continue for Kraft, Paschke and Co. on Sunday, when the qualification (4.30 p.m./ZDF and Eurosport) for the big tour finale takes place in Bischofshofen. Hannawald is still the last German winner there too – and at the moment there is little to suggest that that will change.