The German leg of the Four Hills Tournament was dominated by Domen Prevc (you can read about rounds in Oberstdorf and Garmisch-Partenkirchen here). No one was able to beat him – the Slovenian ski jumper achieved at least 140 metres in every official round so far. The gap between him and second place holder, Jan Hörl, counts 35 points. Will someone defeat Domen? What can we expect for the third round at Bergisel?

by Oliwier Rychły

Key facts about famous Bergisel hill

Bergisel is one of the most popular ski jumping places across the world. It holds the third competition of the Four Hills Tournament. Almost every ski jumping fan knows this place, which is located in Innsbruck, the capital city of Tyrol. Here are some key facts about well-known Bergisel.

• K-point: 120 m 
• Hill Size: HS 128 
• Official hill record: 138 m (Michael Hayböck, 4 January 2015)
• Inrun length: 90.7 m
• Inrun angle: 35°
• Take-off length: 6.5 m
• Take-off height: 3.08 m
• Spectator capacity: 22 500
• Year of construction: 1927 
• Renovations: 1928, 1931, 1948, 1962, 1984, 2001, 2024

Last year, here in Innsbruck, we could see three Austrians on the podium. In order: Stefan Kraft, Jan Hörl and Daniel Tschofenig. How will it be this year? Well, we will see, but, all the signs tell us that Domen Prevc is going to dominate the whole tournament.

So, what awaits us in Innsbruck?

That’s a very good question. We remember competitions from the past, when the wind was blowing and the contest was just… unfair. I hope it won’t be the same this year but well, it’s Bergisel which is called fussy by many. So we have to keep in mind that in Innsbruck everything can happen, but it’s ski jumping. We can try to read the tea leaves, but at Bergisel nothing is ever guaranteed.

Domen Prevc in his “domenator” era

I said that nothing is in the bag, but I don’t think that’s true. Domen Prevc is absolutely on fire and no one can beat him. He absolutely dominated the German leg of the Four Hills Tournament and dealt a blow to opponents’ hopes. Slovene leads the tournament by 35 points ahead of Jan Hörl. He won twice – in Oberstdorf and in Garmisch Partenkirchen, in all official rounds he achieved at least 140 metres. 

“How do you defeat this guy? Maybe here – in Innsbruck – at our home hill. We have to jump our best and pressurize him. (…) Maybe we will be able to acquire his level,” Jan Hörl – the vice-leader of Four Hills Tournament, said in an interview for skijumping.pl.

For now no one can compare with the Slovene but as I mentioned – nothing is certain.

The Austrian Leg – will Austrians counterpunch Prevc?

The second phase of the Four Hills Tournament takes place in Austria at the hills well-known to Austrian ski jumpers like Hörl, Stephan Embacher or Stefan Kraft (who, to say the least, doesn’t like the Ga-Pa hill). So we can predict that they will achieve better jumps than other competitors. 

“We’re motivating each other [with Hörl]. I hope we will be as motivated as that for the rest of the season. Now we’re going to Austria. If you achieve a podium at Bischofshofen or in Innsbruck you are successful everywhere,” said the 18-year-old Austrian, Stephan Embacher.

The young Austrian set a new record of Große Olympiaschanze – he achieved 145.5 metres during the New Year’s Eve qualification. It should be noted that he set a new record of Gross-Titlis-Schanze in Engelberg too. 

Embacher, placed in 10th position in the World Cup classification, can be the dark horse of the Four Hills Tournament. 

As Hörl said – where else if not at Bergisel?

Changes in national teams

Some ski jumpers unfortunately had to end their participation in this year’s edition of Four Hills Tournament. Many of them due to bad results and lack of points. 

One of them is four-time Olympic champion, Simon Ammann. The Swiss ski jumper is placed in 36th position in tournament classification. He didn’t qualify to the second round in Oberstdorf as well as in Ga-Pa.

While we’re on the subject of the Swiss ski jumping team – Juri Kesseli was dropped from the team due to bad results. The 20-year-old jumper finished the Oberstdorf qualification round in 51st place. In Garmisch-Partenkirchen he qualified, but finished in 45th place in the first round which means that he didn’t score any points.

Kesseli and Ammann will be replaced by Felix Trunz and Killian Peier. 

The Polish team had decided to replace Piotr Żyła and Dawid Kubacki was called up in his place. Polish jumper claims that “recent competitions were torture. (…) I want to come back strong and with new energy. Happy new year!”

In Bergisel we won’t see Artti Aigro due to his fall during the training round in Ga-Pa. Also Zajc and İpcioğlu won’t jump in Innsbruck because they got red cards, as a result of two disqualifications. 

Four Hills Tournament classification after Garmisch-Partenkirchen

Rank	Name	Total points	Difference
1.	Domen Prevc	619.8
2.	Jan Hörl	584.8	-35.0
3.	Stephan Embacher	578.3	-41.5
4.	Felix Hoffmann	573.2	-46.6
5.	Ryoyu Kobayashi	572.8	-47.0
6.	Philipp Raimund	566.6	-53.2
7.	Ren Nikaido	565.2	-54.6
8.	Daniel Tschofenig	556.6	-63.2
9.	Kacper Tomasiak	540.5	-79.3
10.	Anže Lanišek	539.5	-80.3

You can read the full classification here.

Summary

What can we expect from Bergisel? One thing is certain – it won’t be a boring competition. The famous Austrian hill inured us to hold interesting and dynamic competitions. The upcoming contest will be crucial for the Four Hills Tournament – it’s worth following. All the news from ski jumping and winter sports in general will be at our site. Follow us!

And of course – all the best in the new year!

Header photo credit: Tadeusz Mieczyński/Skijumping.pl