Four Hills Tournament winner Domen Prevc: “I’m totally amazed by my emotions”

Bischofshofen had dressed up for the final competition of the Four Hills Tournament, even though it doesn’t look very wintry around the town of 10,000 in the state of Salzburg at the moment. In any case, more ski jumping enthusiasts from Slovenia came to the Paul-Außerleitner-Schanze than rarely before. Hundreds of white, blue and red flags flew over the steps. There were around 4,000 Slovenians among the 12,500 spectators who made the journey up to the diving stadium – in the bitter cold of around minus ten degrees.

An older Slovenian, who was a little late, even tried to squeeze himself into the shuttle bus half an hour before the start of the jumping with an extremely daring design: he was equipped with skis, a Domen Prevc shield, a flag and cowbells and had tied all the utensils around his body with a strong leather belt. But he also finally made it onto the bus and up to the ski jump. And he, like all the other Slovenians, was rewarded.

Because Domen Prevc, the best ski jumper of this tour and has been in impressive form since the start of the World Cup season at the end of November – he didn’t win the final, but he did win the 74th Four Hills Tournament by a wide margin. With jumps of 138 meters in the first round and 138.5 meters in the second round, Prevc ended up in second place in Bischofshofen, behind the very strong defending champion Daniel Tschofenig from Austria (137/140.5 meters), who was ultimately dethroned in the overall standings. The Japanese Ryoyu Kobayashi (137/138 meters) came third in the daily ranking. Prevc thus won two of the four competitions: in Oberstdorf and Garmisch. In Innsbruck he was beaten by a mere 0.5 points by the Japanese Ren Nikaido – and there he already missed the so-called Grand Slam, i.e. victories in all four competitions. And now: second on the day behind Tschofenig.

But in the overall ranking, Prevc had 1195.6 points, the equivalent of 23.5 meters ahead of the Austrian Jan Hörl (1153.3 and fourth place in Bischofshofen). Another ÖSV professional, Stephan Embacher (1150.6), took third place in the tour rankings. “It’s a very special moment for me today,” said Prevc. “It’s ten years after Peter’s victory, I’m totally blown away by my emotions. And now I’m going to drink a glass of beer. Then we’ll all come together. It’s great to win a tour with the best form. That’s the result of my work and my dedication to this sport.”

The competition can spend a month until the Winter Games racking their brains about how they can defeat Prevc there

Prevc proudly held up the golden eagle, the winner’s trophy, in the ski jump run-out, exactly ten years after his brother Peter won the Four Hills Tournament for the first time. It has never happened before that two brothers are at the top of the most prestigious ski jumping competition in the world. For Prevc it was also the twelfth World Cup podium finish in a row – he is only one more step away from the World Cup record set by Finn Janne Ahonen. These are all top performances that German ski jumpers can only dream of.

Felix Hoffmann and Philipp Raimund had once again jumped well, but not outstandingly, in the first round in Bischofshofen. After the second round, the weakest result of all four competitions for what was by far the best German duo showed up on the scoreboard: tenth place for Hoffmann, who came a strong sixth in the overall ranking, and twelfth place for Raimund, who also came twelfth in the final rankings. Hoffmann suffered from knee pain in the final jump, Raimund had a sore throat.

For Karl Geiger and Andreas Wellinger, the downward slide that they have been on since the summer continued on the Paul-Außerleitner-Schanze. Geiger’s jump to 115.5 meters in the first round meant 45th place, Wellinger fared only slightly better with his jump to 120.5 meters – tied for 35th place. The two best German jumpers of the past few years also missed the second round with their distances and must continue to question their entire flight system. Because in just under three weeks it will also be important for them at the Ski Flying World Championships in Oberstdorf, Geiger’s hometown, if the Germans want to win a medal.

Prevc will also be there with the Slovenian team to win the next coup. But first of all, despite all the joy in Bischofshofen an der Schanze, he also seemed drained: “My celebrations today will be to get as much sleep as possible. Then I’ll enjoy it and look forward.”

Because there’s something else coming this winter – the Olympic Games on the ski jump in Predazzo in Italy. The competition can now rack their brains for a month about how they can defeat the “Domenator” there.