A dramatic season finale in Planica

A difficult start with Slovenian dominance

The opening day on Thursday presented the athletes with enormous challenges. Heavy snowfall and changeable winds meant that training and the qualification round dragged on for hours. Despite the adverse conditions, local hero Anže Lanišek took the lead in the qualification round of the final World Cup weekend with a jump of 211 metres and 242.5 points. He was followed by Domen Prevc, who also demonstrated his class with a jump of 234.5 metres (240.4 points). Austrian Stephan Embacher also made a strong impression, finishing third with 230 metres (239.7 points) after already impressing in training with a strong 218.5 metres.

Friday: Prevc wins, Embacher crashes

Friday saw the first individual competition, in which Domen Prevc once again impressively demonstrated why he was the “Domenator” this season. With jumps of 232.5 and 230.5 metres, he prevailed over Ren Nikaido and secured a commanding victory. At the same time, he took the lead in the Ski Flying World Cup. However, the competition was overshadowed by a moment of shock: Stephan Embacher fell on landing in the final round after a strong jump of 240 metres. Fortunately, the 20-year-old was uninjured and was able to get up unaided. Shortly after the fall, he gave the all-clear. From a German perspective, Andreas Wellinger was particularly impressive, finishing eighth as the best DSV jumper. Karl Geiger improved to twelfth place in the final. Philipp Raimund could not finish higher than 28th. Pius Paschke finished 24th.

Austria triumphs in the team event

Austria was in top form in Saturday’s team competition. The quartet of Daniel Tschofenig, Stefan Kraft, Markus Müller and Stephan Embacher secured a commanding victory, beating Team Japan. The Austrians laid the foundations for their success as early as the first round in front of 35,000 spectators. Stefan Kraft and Stephan Embacher, who had suffered a heavy fall the previous day, were instrumental in putting their team in the lead at half-time. Team Norway completed the podium. Germany, on the other hand, missed out on the podium places by a wide margin and had to settle for fourth place.

Lindvik seals the deal

Marius Lindvik springing a surprise on Sunday to round off the weekend. The Norwegian won the final ski flying event of the season with jumps of 238.5 and 231 metres, securing his first victory of the season. Behind him finished Domen Prevc and his Norwegian team-mate Johann André Forfang. Lindvik, who had returned after a difficult spell and a temporary ban, thus sent out a strong signal at the end of the season. For the German team, the final was disappointing overall: Karl Geiger finished eighth and was thus the best DSV athlete, whilst Andreas Wellinger narrowly missed out on the top ten. Particularly emotional: it was also the final competition under national coach Stefan Horngacher, whose successor has not yet been officially confirmed.

Prevc claims double crown

Domen Prevc claimed a double crown at the end of the season: he won both the overall Ski Jumping World Cup and the overall Ski Flying World Cup. In the overall World Cup standings, Ryoyu Kobayashi and Daniel Tschofenig completed the podium. In the ski flying standings, Prevc was followed by Austria’s Stephan Embacher and Norway’s Johann André Forfang.

Thus ends an intense weekend of ski flying in Planica, marked by extreme conditions, huge distances and the realisation that surprises are still possible even at the season finale.