Pius Paschke probably made a decisive mistake on New Year’s Day. Daniel Tschofenig wins and leads the Four Hills Tournament.
After his painful mistake, Pius Paschke congratulated the new dominator Daniel Tschofenig; the German hopeful no longer wanted to know anything about a triumph at the Four Hills Tournament. “Of course it’s a shame. But I don’t even look at the overall standings. There are enough other people who do that,” said the Bavarian disappointed after finishing ninth in the New Year’s competition in Garmisch-Partenkirchen. In the fight for the golden eagle, only a miracle will help now.
While the Austrian Tschofenig won overwhelmingly and is now leading the tour, Paschke fell from fourth to sixth place. The dream of the first German tour title in 23 years will probably remain unfulfilled in 2025. “You don’t need to think much about the overall standings,” said national coach Stefan Horngacher: “It’s important for us to now look at the individual competitions. Maybe we’ll win one.”
Paschke was far from such a victory in Garmisch. Three days after his fourth place in Oberstdorf, the 34-year-old showed a mediocre first jump at 129.0 m before making up ground with a dream flight at 143.5 m. However, the 275.9 points were again not enough for the podium. There, in front of 22,000 spectators, Tschofenig was at the top, followed by the Swiss Gregor Deschwanden and the new hill record holder Michael Hayböck (Austria), who sailed to 145.0 m in the first round.
Geiger encourages Paschke
Paschke could only nod in recognition. “My second was cool, unfortunately there was a small mistake in the first that had a big impact,” said Paschke, who also lost the lead in the overall World Cup to Tschofenig. The Austria Eagle sailed on 141.5 and 143.0 m. “That’s something special, I watched the New Year’s competition as a small child. That’s mega,” said the celebrated winner.
In the overall tour standings, Tschofenig is now ahead of his teammates Jan Hörl (614.6) and Stefan Kraft (613.8) with 622.5 points; both Hörl (5th) and Oberstdorf winner Kraft (8th) were ahead New Year feathers. He is followed by Deschwanden (608.9) and Johann Andre Forfang from Norway (600.0). Paschke’s deficit (597.2) can hardly be made up. The first tour victory for Austria in ten years is becoming increasingly likely, especially since the home games in Innsbruck (Saturday) and Bischofshofen (Monday) follow.
Paschke was only the second-best German on the Olympic hill: Karl Geiger flew to sixth place and continued his strong tour after eighth place in Oberstdorf; Geiger remains eighth in the overall ranking. Andreas Wellinger (Ruhpolding) was reasonably happy with tenth place.
Geiger encouraged Paschke despite the setback. “We’re not giving up, we’ll never do that. We’re only halfway there,” said the Bavarian. But the trend goes against Paschke: in the first eight competitions of the winter he landed on the podium seven times, but now it was not enough for the podium for the fourth time in a row. “You shouldn’t be melancholy. I enjoyed the moments and will do everything I can to ensure that we celebrate such moments again,” said Paschke.
From a German perspective, Philipp Raimund (Oberstdorf/19th) and Felix Hoffmann (Goldlauter/25th) also made it into the second round. Hoffmann was therefore recommended for a place in the World Cup team – unlike the returnee Markus Eisenbichler, who finished 32nd, as did Constantin Schmid (Oberaudorf/34th), Stephan Leyhe (Willingen/36th) and Luca Roth (Meßstetten/38th). left early. Leyhe in particular is at risk of being demoted to the B team.
The second rest day of the tour awaits Paschke and Co. on Thursday, and qualifying for the Bergisel jump, which is sold out for the first time since 2016, is scheduled for Friday. Over the last few years, Germany’s touring dreams have finally been dashed with unsightly regularity. Now Pius Paschke is threatened with a similar fate.