Forfang relieved to ‘finally’ end World Cup winless streak

Feb 08, 2025·Ski Jumping

Forfang celebrated wildly with his team after victory was confirmed - ©Authamayou/NordicFocus

Two-time Olympic medalist Johann Andre Forfang (NOR) ended his run of near-misses by claiming his first World Cup victory of the season following an impressive showing in Lake Placid (USA).

The Norwegian, who is aiming to build on his three career World Championship honours in his homeland next month, had finished second in four of the last five individual World Cup contests.

However, he was finally able to deliver two successive strong competition jumps to attain an overall points total of 259.5 and secure top-spot on the podium.

Jan Hoerl (AUT) placed second with 256.6pts, while his countryman and World Cup leader Daniel Tschofenig (AUT), who scored 255pts, was relieved to salvage a top-three result after facing challenging conditions in both rounds.

It was Forfang's first individual World Cup win since his victory in Oslo (NOR) last March and the success also had added significance, as it marked the 20^th victory and 50^th World Cup podium of his career, with team events taken into consideration.

“It’s been a long time coming,” Forfang admitted to FIS after the competition. "I had been second four or give times now.

“I felt my level has been this high throughout the winter, but Daniel (Tschofenig) has been so good it hasn’t been easy, but now I finally get to stand at the top.”

The first contest of arguably the busiest day of the 2024/25 World Cup calendar to date saw fewer strong gusts than the women’s field had endured 24 hours earlier, but the wind was inconsistent and still made for extremely tricky conditions.

Two of the athletes who traditionally favour the longer ‘flying hills’, who were expected to perform well in Lake Placid, were Domen Prevc (SLO) and Anze Lanisek (SLO), but both endured a difficult start to the first men’s World Cup final of the weekend.

Prevc, who won in Oberstdorf (GER) last month, had topped the qualifying round on Friday, but found himself 18^th after the opening round and ultimately finished 14^th.

Lanisek, who attained a second-place finish in Willingen (GER) last weekend, was particularly unlucky with the conditions faced during his initial effort, which saw him rank 21^st.

The Slovenian was able to demonstrate his potential in round two though, with his jump of 130m – the second largest of the day – helping him rise 14 places to seventh.

Lanisek was frustrated conditions arguably denied him a better result ©Authamayou/NordicFocus

Marius Lindvik (NOR) was another to impress at the second time of asking, leaping nine places to fourth, but national team-mate Kristoffer Eriksen Sundal (NOR) suffered the reverse fate.

He plummeted 18 places to finish 21^st after strong back winds switched to strong tailwinds during his take-off.

Kevin Bickner (USA), who achieved a career-best tenth-place-finish in Willingen (GER) last weekend, gave the home crowd reason to cheer with two strong jumps and 13^th in the standings, with countryman Tate Frantz (USA) also attaining a top-20 result in 19^th.

©Authamayou/NordicFocus

While Forfang’s stunning 130.5m jump in the first round put him 5.8 points clear of Jan Hoerl (AUT) in second, there were just 4.1pts separating the Austrian Olympic champion from Bickner in tenth at the halfway stage.

The challenges posed by Lovro Kos (SLO), Michael Hayboeck (AUT), Maximilian Ortner (AUT) and Ren Nikaido (JPN) failed to progress in the second round, but placing sixth should give Ortner a chance of selection for Austria’s World Championships squad next month.

Swiss Olympian Gregor Deschwanden (SUI) is without a top-three finish since New Year’s day in Garmisch-Partenkirchen (GER), but showed a welcome return to form in New York, finishing fifth.

“I think today I smelt the podium,” said Deschwanden, with a smile.

“I made progress from the last weekend and I think my second d jump was really good again, but the others jumped a bit better. It’s my best for three to four weeks, so I have to be happy and take confidence into tomorrow (the men’s second Lake Placid World Cup).

Hoerl has been one of the most consistent performers on the men’s World Cup circuit this season and narrowed the gap to the man leading the standings – Tschofenig – by 20 points in Lake Placid.

The Austrian delivered two strong jumps to place second, finishing just 2.9 points behind winner Forfang.

Tschofenig improved on his jump of 122.5m in round one with 125m in the second to take the final podium place, after being joint fourth at the halfway stage.

Forfang was unable to match his colossal 130.5m effort in round two, but 121m and a score of 124.7pts saw him claim an individual World Cup top spot for the first time in nearly 11 months.