Daniel Andre Tande first winner in 2017
Aug 31, 2018·Ski Jumping
The record of Sven Hannawald, who is the only jumper to win all four 4-Hills competitions in one season, will last for at least one more year. After Stefan Kraft's win in Oberstdorf, Daniel Andre Tande was the winner in the New Year's competition in Garmisch-Partenkirchen. 3.2 points behind, Poland's Kamil Stoch came in second. Stefan Kraft (AUT) finished third.
What a competition! What a final! Three athletes jumped over the 140 m in the second round. Under excellent weather conditions, the 20 000 fans at the traditional New Year's competition in Garmisch-Partenkirchen got their money's worth. And with Markus Eisenbichler also a German athlete was all smiles on this sunny day, even if the wait for the next home win, after Sven Hannawald 2002, is still not over.
The Norwegian ski jumpers were waiting in the outrun. After his 138 m in the first round, Daniel Andre Tande jumped on 142 m in the final. Kamil Stoch has just moved up from fifth to first with the longest jump of the day on 143 m. Pure excitment until the results were official and the Norwegians started celebrating. Tom Hilde and the others carried Daniel Andre Tande on their shoulders after he won with 289.2 points. "I tried to be relaxed before my first jump and now I'm more than happy that I could win here in Garmisch-Partenkirchen. Of course you always need some luck, in summer I was working on my technique", said the happy 22-year-old Norwegian.
Also Kamil Stoch (135.5 m and 143 m; 286.0 points) was everything but disappointed. "This was a fantastic jump of 143 m. The hard work in summer now pays off. Many jumpers can win the 4-Hills-Tournament, I enjoy competing with all these top athletes", the double Olympic champion said with a view towards the upcoming competitions in Innsbruck and Bischofshofen.
Stefan Kraft lost his overall lead, but the 23-year-old was really happy about his jumps of 137 m and 140 m (282.4 points) and the third place. "I'm very satisfied with the start of the new year. It's amazing that I could be on the podium here in Garmisch-Partenkirchen", Kraft explained at the press conference. In the overall ranking he is now only 0.8 points behind the leader, that's less than half a meter.
The ski jumping fans in the Olympic stadium saw an extremely strong performance of the German ski jumpers. Nine of them qualified for the New Year's competition and seven reached the final of the Top 30. With jumps of 136.5 m and 139.5 m and a total of 278.9 points Markus Eisenbichler finished fourth. Due to a not so good landing he came in 2.5 points behind the podium. "Markus Eisenblicher is growing as a person, we can expect a lot from him", said Werner Schuster.
Stephan Leyhe also showed a good performance and was eighth with 135.5 m and 134 m and 268.8 points - this is the career-best for the 24-year-old from Willingen. "It was a good day for us. Also the jumpers, who are not our top athletes, showed some good jumps today", Schuster said after the first half of the 4-Hills-Tournament.
With Andreas Wellinger (13th) and Richard Freitag (15th) two other Germans were in the Top 15. Only the top jumper of hte past few years, Severin Freund, is still having some problems. But the head coach doesn't want to overestimate the current situation. Last season's overall World Cup winner, Peter Prevc, is in a similar situation and also still struggling with his shape. "Severin can assess the situation, he knows what the problem is", said the coach.
The rest of the 4-Hills-Tournament promises to be exciting. Kamil Stoch is the overall leader with 591.2 points, Stefan Kraft (590.4 points) is now second. After today's win, Daniel Andre Tande is only 6.6 points behind and will definitely be able to fight for the win. And even Markus Eisenbichler (572.0 points) can hope for a podium finish in the overall ranking.
The field in the overall World Cup also got closer again. Domen Prevc remains in the lead with 590 points, but the winner of the New Year's competition, Daniel Andre Tande, closed the gap (532 points).
For the second half, the 65th 4-Hills-Tournament is now moving from Germany to Austria. The next two competitions will be held on the Bergisel in Innsbruck and on the Paul-Ausserleitner-hill in Bischofshofen. After a day of rest, the 4-Hills-Tournament will continue on Tuesday, January 3rd, with the qualification (2:00 pm CET) in the host city of the 1964 and 1976 Olympic Winter Games.
