ÖSV triathlon

Overall World Cup victory goes to an Austrian!

Kraft (left), Hörl (center) or Tschofenig: One of the trio becomes overall ski jumping World Cup winner.

(Bild: GEPA pictures)

The men's Ski Jumping Overall World Cup goes to an Austrian for the 15th time in total. Norway's Johann Andre Forfang, the last remaining ÖSV rival, finished third in the second competition in Sapporo on Sunday, just ahead of Daniel Tschofenig, meaning that his deficit to the Carinthian is an unassailable 651 points six competitions before the end. Jan Hörl and Stefan Kraft, who finished sixth and fifth on Sunday, are also still in the race.

As on the previous day, victory in the 1972 Olympic city went to Ryoyu Kobayashi. The Japanese won from second place with a 4.2-point lead over half-time leader Marius Lindvik, meaning that two Norwegians finished on the podium. Forfang was 9.7 points behind Kobayashi. Tschofenig (-16.3 points) led an Austrian pack still made up of Kraft (-17.2), the previous day's runner-up Hörl (-23.8) and Maximilian Ortner (-29.4). Manuel Fettner (-34.1) finished eleventh, Markus Müller missed out on qualifying for the second round in 37th place.

Kraft, of course, only has a theoretical chance of successfully defending his title in the overall World Cup. The man from Salzburg is third in the season rankings, 579 points behind Tschofenig, with a maximum of 600 points still up for grabs. With a fourth overall victory, Kraft would draw level with the record holders Matty Nykänen (FIN) and Adam Malysz (POL). Like Kraft, Andreas Goldberger has three overall World Cup victories. Armin Kogler, Thomas Morgenstern and Gregor Schlierenzauer have two overall victories each, Hubert Neuper and Andreas Felder one each.

Sapporo double winner Kobayashi in strong form ahead of the World Championships
In the competition on the large hill in Sapporo, Tschofenig, Kraft, Ortner and Hörl were in fifth, sixth, eighth and tenth place after the first round, but the jump onto the podium was not quite possible. Kobayashi, who got into shape just in time for the World Championships starting on February 26th in Trondheim, won with jumps of 132 and 137 meters. Tschofenig was the best of the ÖSV with 127 and 130 meters. In the overall World Cup, Hörl from Salzburg is 183 points behind Tschofenig and remains his only real rival for the big globe.

Tschofenig had already finished fourth the day before. While the winner of the Four Hills Tournament was only 0.1 points short of a top 3 place, this time it was 6.6 points. In any case, the 22-year-old returned home satisfied: "You don't want to finish fourth, but the jumps are at a good level. It wasn't easy for us, but I think we fought back really well. We know what we still have to do. Now we have another week off and can prepare for the world championships."

Kraft managed an upswing at the site of five of his 45 World Cup victories; the 31-year-old was sixth on Saturday. "It was definitely an improvement. All the jumps were very stable, very good, at a high level. The form is going in the right direction again towards the highlight," analyzed the tour bronze medallist. He sees the battle for the World Cup as a duel between Tschofenig and Hörl. "The two of them will fight it out. It's mega cool that we've brought the title to Austria twice in a row. I'll see if I can defend my top 3 place."

World Cup resumption on March 13
Hörl still has six individual competitions left to catch his compatriot. There will be four flying hill competitions in March - on March 15 and 16 in Vikersund and the season finale on March 28 and 30 in Planica. There are also two large hill competitions - the World Cup continuation on March 13 in Oslo and a competition on March 22 in Lahti. "I can go home for the break with a good feeling," said the 26-year-old Hörl, focusing on the World Championships for the time being. Ortner also has this in his sights: "I'm looking forward to the experience."

Austria's World Championship team is expected to be nominated at the beginning of the week. Tschofenig, Hörl, Kraft, Ortner and Michael Hayböck, who did not travel to Japan and will retire at the end of the season, will probably be included. Otherwise, Fettner has recalled ÖSV head coach Andreas Widhölzl, who stayed at home. The 39-year-old finished eighth on Saturday and has also finished sixth and ninth in the current World Cup. At the beginning of the month, Fettner finished on the podium four times in a row in the Continental Cup with two victories.