Halftime at the Four Hills Tournament. With Domen Prevc, the top favorite is miles ahead, with Felix Hoffmann and Philipp Raimund, two German ski jumpers have the best chance of making it to the podium, and Timi Zajc is causing a stir with two disqualifications. ARD ski jumping expert Sven Hannawald draws an interim conclusion before the jumps in Austria.
Domen Prevc dominated the jumping in Germany. Before the third station in Innsbruck, where the qualification takes place on Saturday, the Slovenian is already almost 20 meters ahead of the second-placed Austrian Jan Hörl and more than 25 meters ahead of Hoffmann. In ski jumping these are worlds apart. Not since Finnish ski jumping legend Janne Ahonen in 2004/05 has a jumper been so far ahead at the halfway point of the tour. For Hannawald, the winner is already clear: “Even if he messes up a jump, I don’t think it will get to the point where he won’t win the tour.”
Hannawald on Prevc: “Bonds Ski jumping shoes like sneakers”
But what makes the 26-year-old so strong? The DSV eagles also ask themselves this question. “Where are the remaining 15 meters to Domen? I’m doing my best and I’m at a very high level”Raimund wondered at last. Hannawald tries to answer the question that is omnipresent in the ski jumping world.
On the one hand, Prevc benefits from the mobility of his ankle. “This allows him to bring the ski extremely close to his body, even though you can see that the boot is almost stuck to the ski. The loose heel in the boot also allows him to shift the surface of the suit in the air so that he can fly much more effectively“, explains Hannawald in an interview with Sportschau.de.
To make this work, Prevc ties his shoes loosely. “I remember, I rode in the elevator with him in Garmisch in 2016 and he told me that he ties his shoes like sneakers.” A lead that other athletes cannot easily make up for. “The others can’t start tying their shoes so loosely now. Domen has been doing it that way for a long time, he feels safe with it.”
Hannawald about the top German duo
Felix Hoffmann and Philipp Raimund are among the pursuers in fourth and sixth place overall. On Sunday the duo has to compete on the mythical Bergisel in Innsbruck, where German dreams have often been bitterly shattered. “I hope they can continue to build up their self-confidence.”says Hannawald. With Raimund you notice “that he wasn’t quite as happy in Garmisch”.
Hoffmann, on the other hand, is currently trying to cope with all the hustle and bustle. “At the beginning in Oberstdorf I had the feeling that he was dealing with everything around him, with the spectators, with the expectations. But with every good jump he thaws more.” If the two DSV Eagles keep calm and deliver on their performances, Hannawald will see one or the other on the podium at the end.
Hannawald about the other pursuers
Even if that “Topic already through” and Prevc is likely to take home the win, Hannawald still sees a lot of surprise potential when it comes to the other podium places: “It remains more exciting than ever.” In addition to Hoffmann and Raimund, Ryoyu Kobayashi and the Austrians Jan Hörl and Stephan Embacher are also among the contenders for the podium. “Embacher wasn’t necessarily on our radar, but he brings a lot of good things with him, he’s just jumping into the game.” The ÖSV-Adler is currently in third place behind Prevc and Hörl.
Before the start of the tour, Kobayashi was still one of the big favorites for the golden eagle. However, at the start in Oberstdorf, the Japanese finished sixth and lost 21.7 points to the Slovenian. Kobayashi is currently testing a new ski because he is not allowed to compete in the Olympic Games in February with his actual World Cup ski. The timing of the test surprised many. If the Japanese competes in the remaining competitions with his usual skis, then he still has podium potential, says Hannawald.
Hannawald about the Disqualifications by Zajc
In addition to Prevc, there was another Slovenian who was the focus of the tour: Timi Zajc did not draw attention to himself with his sporting performance, but rather caused displeasure with his actions. Zajc had been disqualified from both previous competitions at the Four Hills Tournament – both times his suit did not meet the criteria.
Hannawald finds clear words for this: “This arrogant, this disrespectful, this ignorant behavior from Timi Zajc, for example, simply taking the same suit and making fun of it via Instagram, that has to be over now.” After the first competition, the 25-year-old spoke out in an Instagram story: “What a nice competition… Let’s stretch the suit a bit, maybe everything will be okay in Ga-Pa (Garmisch-Partenkirchen)”wrote the 25-year-old. The Slovenian has now deleted the post.
Stricter rules were introduced after the suit scandal at the World Cup in Trondheim. “It’s now up to the FIS, they have to stay strict, they have to keep throwing everyone out until the last head realizes that the shitting is over now”says Hannawald. At some point we would see the last of the athletes “that they only took part in a few World Cups during the season, as they were banned from the rest due to yellow or red cards.”