Four Hills Tournament: Stefan Kraft also wins qualification in Bischofshofen

Stefan Kraft flexed his muscles, his two opponents showed slight nerves – and Pius Paschke was once again a long way behind. The day after his triumph in Innsbruck, Austria’s exceptional ski jumper Kraft was also the strongest in the qualification in Bischofshofen and outranked his compatriots Jan Hörl and Daniel Tschofenig before the final of the 73rd Four Hills Tournament.

“I know exactly what to do. The jumps were really fun,” said Kraft, Austria’s last tour winner to date in 2015: “The fire is burning here in the qualification too. Emotions, adrenaline – it’s all there. And then tomorrow it counts.”

While Paschke, who has long had no chance in the fight for the tour victory, ended up in 13th place, Kraft set the best distance of the day with 142.0 m despite a shortened run-up. Tschofenig in fourth place and Hörl in sixth place were a long way behind. In contrast to the overall ranking: There, not even a meter separates Kraft (1st), Hörl (2nd) and Tschofenig (3rd) before the final on Monday (4.30 p.m./ZDF and Eurosport). At the dress rehearsal on Sunday, another Austrian took his place behind Kraft: Maximilian Ortner.

Paschke showed his best jump of the day with 135.0 m, the previous training was very poor. Nevertheless, he was seven meters short of strength. Andreas Wellinger, who was the best DSV eagle in ninth place, did better.

“We wanted to bring a little more relaxation here,” said national coach Stefan Horngacher. In addition to Wellinger, Philipp Raimund also achieved this, who flew in 15th place with 138.5 m. “I still don’t like the jump because the run-up annoys me,” said the Oberstdorfer. Karl Geiger improved after failed training jumps and came in 16th place. Felix Hoffmann (37th) and Adrian Tittel (44th) also made it into the top 50.

The applicants for the overall victory appeared to be generally relaxed the day before the decision. “The three of them have a relaxed banter, the fun is not neglected. But they are very focused,” said Austria’s national coach Andreas Widhölzl. The starting position before the final competition could not provide better dramaturgy – it is historically close: after six jumps and around 800 meters in the air, strength is 0.6 points (the equivalent of 33 centimeters ) ahead of Hörl and 1.3 points (72 centimeters) ahead of Tschofenig. He said: “That’s really disgusting. “It’s going to be really, really exciting.”