Four Hills Tournament: The dangerous ski jump on Bergisel in Innsbruck

Every ski jump has its special features; Many are uncomfortable, the athlete doesn’t feel comfortable in some way, but he can certainly compensate for this. Because things should be fair in a sport like this, which is on the edge of extremes. However, now that the entourage of the spectacle has arrived at Bergisel in Innsbruck, things are just getting started.

The ski jumpers in the Four Hills Tournament are now entering a phase in which they face a new challenge. This is almost so insoluble that all you can do is beg God to play along, but that shouldn’t help because all the competitors who want to do reasonably well also send out prayers. And heaven certainly won’t agree to something like that.

If everything goes as usual in the third competition of the Four Hills Tournament, then a lot will be mixed up on this Bergisel ski jump, which of course also affects the table of the top ten. Anyone who still thinks they have a chance of winning overall or at least placing in the top three, perhaps at least in the top ten, can prove to their coach or sponsor that they have strong nerves and that they can rely on their hard work.

This Bakken with its tower is not only vain, but also dangerous

The tour crossed from Oberstdorf and Garmisch-Partenkirchen to Tyrol. And no matter whether from Garmisch or Kufstein, the south or the west from Arlberg, at some point the traveler will see it, beautiful and extraordinary. A ski jump that is more than just a piece of concrete, more than a sports facility. This Bakken with its tower is not only vain, but also dangerous, which is why the nickname Cobra is justified. Cobra also because the end of this jump tower has a head like that of a cobra, as many think. Other nicknames: high-heeled shoe (because that’s what it looks like, with the slanted walkway that’s free at the bottom), or just “tower” or “walkway.”

The Austrian jumpers will also have respect for this ski jump, which the older ones like Stefan Kraft will certainly take to heart. Things could look different for Daniel Tschofenig. He is only 22 years old, won the second stage of the tour on New Year’s Day, and like all young jumpers he is sensible and only celebrates after the last jump of the day. However, he would not be the first jumper or four-hills day winner to subconsciously get in the way of arrogance.

Any of the best could make it back up in the overall standings on Bergisel – the Swiss Gregor Deschwanden, the Norwegian Daniel André Forfang and also the German Pius Paschke. He has now lost his huge World Cup lead and his winning form from a few weeks ago until the tour. But he could at least manage to improve from sixth overall to a top place if he approaches his task on this treacherous hill in a prudent and respectful manner.

Karl Geiger from Oberstdorf has often failed in Innsbruck, this jump is less suitable for him too, and he also knows the problem: He knows that you have to get into the flying position even faster here. Otherwise the system will brake and the plane will no longer have a chance to accelerate on the short slope. Geiger, who has just found his form again in the current first two competitions on tour and is looking forward to Innsbruck and Bischofshofen, he has had his experiences. He once said about this difficult and elegant jump: “If you are not careful, it will suck you onto the slope.” Unless one of the many gusts of wind that Innsbruck is also known for caught you. In 2008 and 2022 the jumping was even canceled, the Bischofshofen team held two competitions each, and the Three Hills Tournament was born.

Run-out with counter slope: Here the jumpers really have to concentrate until the end

The facility in Innsbruck is a problem ski jump for most people. There are pitfalls everywhere that the jumpers’ long bars could get caught on. And of course it starts at the top. The jumper squats down and assesses the correct height of the middle area of ​​his body so that he can absorb as much speed as possible. If he has poorly waxed skis or is simply not paying attention and is too slow, it can all be over. The point where he has to jump off, the few centimeters, is also more difficult to hit than anywhere else.

And then the knight still hasn’t finished. Because he can’t just glide on down there after the jump and brake a little to the right and left and unbuckle his skis somewhere, put them on his shoulder and then roll off – no, that doesn’t work. Innsbruck is probably the only ski jump at World Cup level, along with those in Trondheim and Oslo, where an additional task awaits the jumper once he has landed.

Oslo, Trondheim and Innsbruck also have a so-called treacherous counter-slope. The tour runner-up from 2015/16 and overall World Cup winner from 2014/15, Severin Freund, slipped back there once and hurt himself. Richard Freitag lost his chances of overall victory when he fell, albeit shortly after landing. Ski jumping has long demanded complete concentration every second, when running up, flying, landing – even more so here, on Tyrol’s Mount of Destiny, where you can still get injured on the run-out.