Ski jumping in Ruka

Hörl and Kraft only beaten by Paschke in Ruka

Stefan Kraft(Bild: GEPA)

The Austrian ski jumpers have continued their strong start to the season with the next two podium finishes. However, the victory on Saturday in Ruka was once again secured by the German Pius Paschke, who clearly relegated Jan Hörl and Stefan Kraft to the other places of honor.

Paschke had already won the opening event in Lillehammer the previous week, with the second competition going to Hörl. Another large hill competition is scheduled for Sunday in Finland.

The ÖSV team was not thrown off course on Saturday by the lack of training jumps due to skis arriving late, nor by the freezing cold and the gusty wind. With four athletes in the top seven, Andreas Widhölzl's team once again performed excellently. But Paschke was not to be beaten. After successfully defending his half-time lead, the veteran won by 8.9 points ahead of Hörl. "I'm mega happy to be back on the podium, the streak continues," said Hörl.

Kraft "very happy"
In his first podium finish of the winter, defending World Cup champion Kraft was 11.4 points behind Paschke, who won for the third time in his career. "First podium this year, I'm very, very happy. It's not quite so easy when you don't have the confidence yet, but I got it together really well in the second run and really attacked, that was fun," said the former world champion, who finished fourth twice in Norway.

Daniel Tschofenig and newcomer Maximilian Ortner finished sixth and seventh behind Kristoffer Eriksen Sundal (NOR) and Andreas Wellinger (GER). Their ÖSV colleague Daniel Huber has since undergone surgery on his injured knee at home. The operation carried out on Friday in Linz was successful. Huber will soon start his rehabilitation, which will last the entire season.