Four Hills Tournament: Paschke ninth in Garmisch qualification

Austria’s ski jumping festival continues on the last day of 2024. Led by Jan Hörl, three ÖSV Adler once again landed in the top three places in the qualification for the New Year’s competition in Garmisch-Partenkirchen. Germany’s hope Pius Paschke didn’t get past ninth place after a jump of 133 meters. The qualifying day did not provide much hope for the first German victory on New Year’s Day in 23 years.

Things didn’t go great for Karl Geiger in seventh place and Olympic champion Andreas Wellinger in twelfth either. “I have to make sure I bring some lightness back. Oberstdorf was just shit, I don’t need to dwell on it for long. I have to stay patient,” said the somewhat perplexed Wellinger on ARD.

Austria’s comfortable situation

The Austrians also lead the overall tour rankings with three athletes. Stefan Kraft is ahead of Hörl and Daniel Tschofenig in the ranking. In the Garmisch preliminary round on Tuesday, Tschofenig and Michael Hayböck came next behind Hörl. “You have the situation where many jumpers can jump extremely far ahead. We don’t quite have the situation right now,” said Wellinger. Even a weakening Oberstdorf winner Kraft in eleventh place was hardly noticeable.

Nine out of ten German jumpers at least got their ticket for the highlight at the start of 2025. Returnee Markus Eisenbichler also mastered the qualification. The 33-year-old Bavarian finished 27th.