Nordic World Ski Championships

World Championships LIVE: Men’s ski jumping from 17.15 LIVE

Jan Hörl

(Bild: GEPA)

It's done: Jan Hörl from Salzburg jumped from the normal hill in Trondheim to his first World Championship medal - he was rewarded with bronze! Gold went to Norway's Marius Lindvik, who won 2.3 points ahead of Andreas Wellinger from Germany and 6.9 ahead of Hörl. Former World Champion Stefan Kraft finished 6th, while World Cup leader Daniel Tschofenig was only 21st and Maximilian Ortner 23rd.

Hörl, who has flown to two victories and nine second places in the World Cup this season, secured the medal he had longed for in rainy Norway.

"I was able to fulfill my childhood dream, which is wonderful. I'm mega happy with third place, the other two did a very good job. I'm very proud - my first medal, that's something very special," said the Olympic team champion from Beijing. At the end of the first week, the 26-year-old secured the fourth ÖSV medal of the championships.

Hörl prevented another zero for ÖSV
His prospects for the large hill competitions are promising. "I'm hungry for more." A little less than four points ahead of fourth-placed German Karl Geiger, Hörl prevented the ÖSV team, which has been so dominant this season, from coming away empty-handed on the small World Championship hill as it did two years ago.

ÖSV head coach Andreas Widhölzl was accordingly relieved. "It was a really hard piece of work. That's a relief for all of us. It didn't go that easily. But the bronze medal really shines and we're really happy that we got it," said Widhölzl. However, Tschofenig's poor performance is regrettable. "It's a shame that it didn't work out for him, but the joy of the medal outweighs that."

The result:

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(Bild: Krone KREATIV/ttps://live.fis-ski.com)

Three-time individual gold medal winner Kraft had finished fourth at the 2023 World Championships, but he didn't manage another medal this time either. "It's a shame, of course you want to win a medal, but I can't blame myself much. I tried everything, but the others were better. I improved very well and put myself in a good medal position, but unfortunately it didn't quite turn out that way," said Kraft and was delighted with Hörl. "There was a lot of pressure and expectation. We got the medal with Jan, that's cool." However, the team result was mixed. "We can be satisfied with Jan and me, the other two have a bit of anger in their stomachs," said Kraft.

Jury allowed long flights
The jury used the hill to its full potential in the first round due to the chosen inrun with a lot of upwind, which led to several jumps well over the hill size of 102 meters. Lindvik even sailed to the hill record of 108 meters, Hörl and Kraft also jumped only slightly shorter. There were no more such long flights in the final, the order of Lindvik ahead of Wellinger and Hörl did not change. And Kraft and Co. were also unable to get any closer to the medals.

Lindvik, who had not won so far this winter, celebrated a surprise victory. "It feels so good to do this here. Those were probably my two best jumps of the season, just crazy." Wellinger, the new silver medal winner, was also not to be expected after his season's performances.