Tournament opener

Five Austrians in front: Eagles dominate qualification!

Daniel Tschofenig(Bild: Andreas Tröster)

Five Austrians at the top: Our ÖSV eagles were outstanding in the qualification for the opening competition of the Four Hills Tournament in Oberstdorf on Saturday!

Daniel Tschofenig (167.5 points) came out on top ahead of Stefan Kraft (164.8), Michael Hayböck (162.3), Jan Hörl (157.3) and Maximilian Ortner (156.2). The best non-Austrian in sixth place was the German Pius Paschke (154.9).

Stefan Kraft(Bild: Andreas Tröster)

Müller and Embacher also in the competition
The first competition starts on Sunday (4.30 pm) with the first run. Markus Müller (17th/140.8) and Stephan Embacher (49th/114.7) are two more Austrians. Embacher has to compete against Kraft in an ÖSV duel. Tschofenig will compete against the US-American Casey Larson, Hayböck against the Finn Kasperi Valto, Hörl against the Swiss Felix Trunz, Ortner against the Slovenian Ziga Jelar and Müller against the Norwegian Marius Lindvik.

Michael Hayböck(Bild: Andreas Tröster)

The prospects for the first ÖSV victory on the Schattenbergschanze since Kraft's triumph in 2016 could not be better after Saturday's dream performance. Tschofenig and Hörl underlined their top form after finishing first and second respectively in the World Cup in Engelberg before Christmas. "It's brilliant, almost unbelievable. It's extremely cool to have such a strong team," said Tschofenig in the ORF interview. The ÖSV athletes push each other. "When you have four behind you who can also win, it helps a lot."

"Very cheesy" result
Hörl botched the landing and therefore had to settle for fourth place. "The jump was very brave, well hit, I only struggled a bit with the landing," analyzed the man from Salzburg. He described the result as "very cheesy. The opening was very cool, I hope it stays that way."

Kraft was also completely satisfied. "Five at the top, you can see that we did a lot right over Christmas," said the 31-year-old. The jumps on Saturday felt very good. "I know what I have to do and have gained a lot of confidence," said the 2014/15 tour winner.