Daniel Tschofenig wins the Four Hills Tournament

Daniel Tschofenig flew with nerves like tightropes: The 22-year-old ski jumper won the final of the 73rd Four Hills Tournament and was the first Austrian to win the Gold Eagle trophy in ten years. The best DSV eagle at the furious conclusion in Bischofshofen was Andreas Wellinger in ninth place.

Tschofenig jumped to 136.0 and 140.5 meters at the red-white-red festival on this tour. That was enough to win the day ahead of his compatriot Jan Hörl, but above all to narrowly edge out his colleagues Hörl and Stefan Kraft in the overall standings. In the end there were only 1.4 points between Tschofenig and Hörl – it had only been closer three times in 73 years of touring.

Austria’s dominance was also overwhelming in the final: it was the third triple victory for the Austria Eagles on this tour. Eleven of the twelve podium places went to the ÖSV. The hosts easily shattered the previous record of nine podium places by Finland (1954/55) and Austria (2011/12).

The German hopeful Pius Paschke flew to twelfth place at the end of what was, from a German perspective, a poor tour. Paschke, five-time winner of the season, came to the tour as the leader in the overall World Cup and therefore as one of the favorites, but had to ungrudgingly acknowledge the superiority of the ÖSV Adler. Sixth place in the overall ranking was still the best tour result for the 34-year-old.

“We went in with great ambitions, but unfortunately we got worse rather than better. Austria is very far ahead, all other nations are biting their teeth, including us. We have to accept that,” said national coach Stefan Horngacher. Philipp Raimund (15th) and Karl Geiger (both Oberstdorf/23rd) also collected points on Monday, in contrast to Adrian Tittel (Aue/33rd) and Felix Hoffmann (Goldlauter/36th). “There was a bit of tension, unfortunately things went in the wrong direction,” said Horngacher. The only consolation: two years ago the performance was even worse, back then no German even made it into the top ten.

Kraft lands as the last jumper a little too early

The man of the day was Tschofenig, who had only celebrated the first World Cup victory of his career in December. During the tour he won the New Year’s competition in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, led at half time, then fell back to third place – and struck back in Bischofshofen. He is now also ahead in the overall World Cup.

14,300 spectators in Bischofshofen witnessed a crime thriller: there was less than a meter between Kraft, Hörl and Tschofenig before the last station; there had never been such a close three-way battle in the history of the tour. After the first round, Kraft was in the lead, but Hörl (in third place) and Tschofenig (fifth place) didn’t let up. In the second round, Tschofenig pulled ahead with 140.5 meters. Hörl flew a distance of 143 meters, but his landing was too messy and the judges deducted the decisive points from him. Kraft, the last jumper, had to wait several minutes for his attempt due to strong winds. He landed at 137.5 meters, a little too early. He slipped to third place in both the daily and overall rankings.

Austria’s dominance was reminiscent of 2012, when Gregor Schlierenzauer, Thomas Morgenstern and Andreas Kofler achieved the last of only three complete national successes so far (after Finland in 1955 and Austria in 1975). Now number four was added on a memorable day.