Ski jumping – Pius Paschke flies away from everyone

Ski jumper Pius Paschke achieved a fantastic double victory at the World Cup in Titisee-Neustadt and was in top form two weeks before the start of the Four Hills Tournament. 24 hours after his triumph in the first individual competition, the 34-year-old also prevailed in the Black Forest on Sunday and celebrated his fifth win of the season – this time after a thriller. For the German ski jumpers it was a perfect first home gala of the season with three victories in three days. At the start on Friday, Paschke had already won a team competition with Andreas Wellinger.

After two more flawless jumps from the Hochfirstschanze at 141.5 and 142.0 meters (290.4), the athlete from Kiefersfelden was just ahead of the Austrian Michael Hayböck (290.0) and Kristoffer Sundal Eriksen from Norway (284.7). After the first round, Hayböck was still ahead of the German number one. Paschke also expanded his leading position in the overall World Cup. At the two competitions in Engelberg next weekend, Paschke cannot lose the yellow jersey and will therefore also wear it at the start of the Four Hills Tournament on December 29th in Oberstdorf.

No German ski jumper had ever achieved five victories before the start of the Four Hills Tournament; Martin Schmitt won four times in 1998. Only two jumpers have been more successful in the World Cup era: Janne Ahonen (Finland) won seven times before the start of the tour in 2004, and Thomas Morgenstern (Austria) won six times in 2007. Ahonen won the Four Hills Tournament, Morgenstern didn’t – Ahonen won there too.

The other German ski jumpers remained in the shadow of this brilliant achievement on Sunday. The second best DSV Adler in sometimes difficult conditions was the significantly improved former world champion Markus Eisenbichler in 13th place, Olympic champion Andreas Wellinger, fourth on Saturday, came in 14th place. Karl Geiger took 17th place.