Tschofenig ends 10-year-wait for Austrian Four Hills winner

European Games champion Daniel Tschofenig produced a stunning comeback to claim his first FIS Ski Jumping Four Hills Tournament title with a dramatic victory in his homeland.

What had been dubbed the ‘battle of Bischofshofen’ between Tschofenig and his Olympic gold medal-winning Austrian team-mates, Stefan Kraft as well as Jan Hoerl, certainly delivered for the 14,500-strong capacity crowd.

After three events, just 1.3 points had separated the trio heading into the finale, with Kraft leading and Tschofenig in third.

Kraft boosted his position during an entertaining first round, with Tschofenig knowing he needed to produce one of the jumps of his season so far to have any chance of victory.

He delivered just that in the second round, while Hoerl’s slight slip during landing cost him valuable points.

Kraft had the advantage, but change in the wind direction as well as strength, combined with a 10-minute delay potentially contributed to his lower-than-expected score.

Tschofenig would take the World Cup victory, as well as the Four Hills Golden Eagle trophy, with Hoerl and Kraft placing second and third respectively in each of the rankings.

“It’s unbelievable,” Tschofenig told FIS, after his scores were confirmed.

“I was trying so much on the hill, but each jump was so painful and I was really struggling in training, but as the competition came it clicked and I knew what I had to do.

“It’s amazing and I’m of course sorry for the other guys (Hoerl and Kraft) who would have deserved it too, but I’m super-happy.”

It is just the third time in the history of the prestigious 73-year-old competition that Austria has attained a clean-sweep of the Four Hills Tournament standings and the nation look well-placed for further success at the 2025 World Championships and 2026 Olympic Games.

Bischofshofen Four Hills World Cup – How it played out:

The Four Hill standings from the previous three events may have drawn focus on the names of Kraft, Hoerl and Tschofenig, but only the former of those performed to their usual high standards in qualifying, which he topped on Sunday.

Tschofenig was fourth, with Hoerl sixth and neither looked to have improved considerably during the morning trial round 24 hours later.

However, their records this season suggested they would be able to show vast improvements once they arrived in the adrenaline-fueled main competition environment.

The first challenge was to overcome their respective ‘duels’ with fellow ski jumpers who had placed in the top-50, following the 62-strong qualifying round.

Before the three main Austrian contenders hit the Paul Ausserleitner HS142 Hill though there were a host of other fascinating head-to-head encounters for the capacity crowd to enjoy.

Pius Paschke (GER) has won five World Cup events so far this season, but has struggled during the Four Hills contest and although he would qualify for the second round, he was beaten by Halvor Egner Granerud (NOR) in their head-to-head.

Team-mate Kristoffer Eriksen Sundal (NOR) edged a high-class encounter with Anze Lanisek (SLO), while Johann Andre Forfang (NOR) continued the theme of Norwegian success.

The five-time World Cup winner is still seeking a first podium finish during his 2024/25 campaign, but he has consistently placed in the top-10 over the last month and 139.5m / 152.2pts gave him the chance of a seasons-best result.

Hoerl was the first of the main contenders to hit the hill and he soon delivered what was described in commentary as a “monster jump.”

The 26-year-old clenched fists after landing the 140.5m leap, which scored 152.7 points and put him top, at that stage, by 0.5pts, from Forfang.

Tschofenig would soon have his own chance to underline his podium potential, but 136m / 149.6 would see him rank 3.1pts behind Hoerl, with work to do in the second round.

The only potential Four Hills contender outside of the Austrian trio was Gregor Deschwanden (SUI), who entered the final stop in fourth, but needing what he described as a “miracle” to make the top-three, let alone take the overall victory.

It would be even tougher after the opening round in which he attained 133.5m / 143.6pts.

There was another Austrian the crowd were enjoying watching, their other rising star Maximilian Ortner (AUT), who had qualified in second and soon delivered another high-quality performance – 134m / 153.4pts.

Kraft though drew on all of his experience to ensure he would lead the World Cup at the halfway stage.

He grimaced slightly upon landing, but that soon became a smile as his score of 154.8, for his jump of 136m put him top on the day and further extended his lead in the overall standings.

Heading into the final round, Kraft led in the race for the Four Hills Golden Eagle trophy, with 1041.9 points, with Hoerl -2.7 back and Tschofenig now 6.5 off the standard set by Kraft.

The top-30 ranked athletes from the first round returned for a second and to underline the strength of the host nation Austrian athletes held the top three places after just ten had completed their programmes.

Markus Mueller, Manuel Fettner and Stephan Embacher held those positions, temporarily, before Ren Nikaido (JPN) rose eight places in the rankings. 

Defending champion Ryoyu Kobayashi (JPN) is currently struggling with his form, but there was some initial encouragement for the three-time Four Hills winner, who was eighth at the halfway stage, although he would ultimately finish 24^th.

Tschofenig was fifth after the opening round, meaning he needed to deliver one of the best jumps of his season to remain in Four Hills contention and 140.5m, to give him an overall total of 308.6pts, was enough to see him celebrate.

Indeed, Forfang would be unable to better that, ensuring the Austrian would rise at least one place, but all-eyes were soon trained back to the top of the hill and at Hoerl.

His distance of 143m good, but the landing cost the Olympic team champion his chance of victory and Hoerl would drop in behind Tschofenig.

Ortner’s podium prospects soon ended, although the young Austrian would finish an encouraging fifth.

To add to the drama ahead of the final jump of the contest, Kraft was held while the jury assessed the changeable weather conditions. 

When he did finally push off over 10-minutes had passed and his 137.5m jump scored 148.4, which was not enough for the overall title, or World Cup victory.

Tschofenig celebrated after official confirmation of the placements, but he was quick to pay tribute to his team-mates and sympathise with Kraft.

“I feel really sorry for him to be honest, it was not what I hoped for,” said the 2024/25 Four Hills Tournament winner.

“I would have hated to stay up there and wait all of this time and he would have surely deserved the Golden Eagle, he was surely the best of the best here.”

FIS Ski Jumping World Cup – next up...

Zakopane (POL) – HS140 – 17-18 January

17.01.2025 – 18:00 – Start Qualification – QUA Men’s LH
18.01.2026 – 15:00 – Start Trial Round – QUA Men’s LH
18.01.2025 – 16:15 – Competition start – WC Men’s LH
19.01.2026 – 15:00 – Start Trial Round – QUA Men’s LH
19.01.2026 – 16:00 – Competition start – WC Men’s LH
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