The Lucerne native finished 11th in Bischofshofen but can boast of a great competition. Daniel Tschofenig gives the Austrians their first victory on the Four Hills Tour since Stefan Kraft in 2015 after another hat-trick.
Gregor Deschwanden failed to deliver his best jumps in Bischofshofen on Monday, but the Lucerne native leaves this Four Hills Tour with an incredible statistic: on four stages, he was the only non-Austrian jumper to climb on the box.
The Horw jumper, so solid over the last 10 days, never finishing worse than 7th whether in qualifying or in the final, did not find the right momentum on the Bischofshofen springboard and had to settle for an 11th place. He still finished 5th in the general classification of the Tour, a huge result which confirms his good form this winter.
The unbeatable Austrians
The Austrians absolutely dominated this Tour. In Bischofshofen, it was once again a red-white-red hat-trick which won for the third time in four stages: unprecedented in the history of the competition. Daniel Tschofenig, already winner in Garmisch-Partenkirchen and on the podium in each event, won in Bischofshofen after a close competition and won the Tour for the first time.
But the suspense lasted until the last minute. With only one jumper still at the top of the hill, the competition had to be stopped due to wind. Stefan Kraft, then at the top of the Tour standings, had to wait many minutes before being able to gain momentum. Enough to disconcert even a champion. A solid jump again allowed the Salzburger to finish 3rd, but the holder of the big Globe was unable to repeat his feat of 2015 and win the Tour.
Instead, it was his colleague Daniel Tschofenig who gave Austria their first Tour success in 10 years. Jan Hörl finished 2nd of the day and of the Tour.
SSW
