While the established Domen Prevc is heading towards his first overall victory in the Four Hills Tournament with big jumps, behind him some lesser-known athletes are drawing attention to themselves. One of them recently stole some of the spotlight from the established athletes with wide sentences, another celebrated his first World Cup victory in Innsbruck.
With a lead of almost 40 points, the Slovenian Domen Prevc is at the top of the overall ranking of the Four Hills Tournament. After the third competition in Innsbruck, in which he came second, his first overall victory in sport can no longer be taken away from him.
Just ahead of him, Ren Nikaido from Japan landed on the Bergisel, just behind him was the Austrian Stephan Embacher. In the overall standings, the two “upstarts” with Jan Hörl and DSV jumper Felix Hoffmann are fighting for the remaining podium places. There are also other exciting personalities on the 74th edition of the tour, which we will take a closer look at.
Stephan Embacher (Austria)
The 19-year-old local hero almost landed the big coup at his first competition in Austria. After jumps of 130 and 127.5 meters, he was only 0.7 points short of his first World Cup victory. “It’s a shame, but it really was a mega day”said Embacher after jumping in front of 22,500 spectators in the Innsbruck cauldron with whom he “really satisfied” was. As in Garmisch-Patenkirchen, he came third.
He achieved his best career result with second place last November in Falun, Sweden. Almost exactly two years ago, the always so calm Embacher celebrated his World Cup debut as part of the national group in Innsbruck. And on his “home hill” the Tyrolean was able to impress with 13th place. He also collected six gold medals at Junior World Championships in his young career.
Since this season, Embacher has been making a name for himself in the World Cup and has achieved nine top 10 placements since the end of November. He also achieved two real highlights. In Engelberg and Garmisch-Partenkirchen he has been on the books as the hill record holder since this winter. In the overall tour standings, the student from the world-famous Schigymnasium Stams is in third place. One of his trainers there is the former German coach Werner Schuster. And believes in a great career at Embacher: “He will turn the hierarchy in the Austrian team upside down.”
Ren Nikaido (Japan)
Ren Nikaido is one position and just over twelve points behind. The Japanese had his great moment on Sunday in Innsbruck, when he not only won his first individual victory with a lead of the equivalent of 27 centimeters, but also deprived Domen Prevc of the possibility of the Grand Slam – i.e. four wins in four competitions. The 24-year-old, who was practically given ski jumping in his cradle by his father Manabu, is heading for his best placement at the Four Hills Tournament. He has never been better than twelfth in the 2023/24 season.
But this also shows that Nikaido is actually not a “newbie” in the classic sense. In February 2020 he was allowed to compete in the World Cup for the first time. In the Grand Prix, the summer series for ski jumpers, he was able to win a competition in Rasnov in 2022. He also stood at the top of the podium with the Japanese mixed team at the start of the current Olympic season in Lillehammer. And after his success on Bergisel, Nikaido made people sit up and take notice with another statement about his performance. “I’m happy that I was able to show two good jumps today”he said with his usual Japanese modesty and added with a laugh: “But they weren’t perfect yet.”
Kacper Tomasiak (Poland)
Poland has already produced three Four Hills Tournament winners. In 2019/20, for example, Dawid Kubacki won, and Kamil Stoch secured the edition after that. But the old heroes are currently far from their best and it is time for a new generation of jumpers. One person who fills the gap that has arisen is Kacper Tomasiak. The 18-year-old athlete from Bielsko-Biała in Silesia has only been part of the Polish A squad since this winter and, as eighth, is not only the best-placed athlete in his country in the Four Hills Tournament ranking, he is also well ahead of his teammates in the overall World Cup and has scored more than twice as many points as old champion Stoch.
His best placings this winter are two fifth places at the home World Cup in Wisla and before Christmas in Engelberg. There are also two further top 10 placements at the last two tour competitions in Garmisch-Partenkirchen and Innsbruck. This means that he currently clearly stands out among the Poles, only Piotr Zyla has jumped into the top ten this winter – and only once in Wisla. Tomasiak is currently carrying the hopes and expectations of a ski jumping-crazy nation. It remains to be seen whether there will be enough for the really big coup this season.
Jason Colby (USA)
When you think of ski jumping, the USA doesn’t usually come to mind. The performances in the last few decades have usually been such that it has not been enough for the world’s best. In team competitions, the Americans usually ended up in the bottom places. In the singles, Erik Belshaw broke a top 10 drought that had lasted over 22 years in March 2024. Since then, he, Tate Frantz and Kevin Bickner have been able to look back on at least five results in the top ten in just under a year. Within around two weeks, Jason Colby achieved a seventh place (Engelberg) and a ninth place (Innsbruck).
But because he was disqualified in Garmisch-Partenkirchen before his jump due to an incorrect suit length, he is well behind the three athletes mentioned above in the overall ranking. Even though his performance fluctuates significantly, the 19-year-old has also shown this season that he has made a significant leap forward in his second full World Cup season and is currently number one in his team. But Colby is still a long way from his first American victory among the world’s elite ski jumpers in more than three decades. But maybe with a bit of luck it will work in Bischofshofen? Mike Holland won the last World Cup for “Red, White, and Blue” there in 1989.