Domen Prevc claims qualification victory

As every year, the qualification for the second event of the Four Hills Tournament took place in Garmisch-Partenkirchen on December 31. Despite sunny weather, the day began with a serious incident. Estonia’s Artti Aigro crashed heavily after a 127-meter jump during the second training round. He later confirmed that he suffered a non-displaced fracture of the second metatarsal bone in his left foot and was taken to hospital. He was therefore unable to compete in the qualification.

The qualification itself was exciting and full of changes at the top. From a German perspective, Ben Bayer impressed early on. He took the lead and stayed in first place for 17 jumps. Norway’s Robin Pedersen was the first athlete to beat his score. After that, Austria’s Manuel Fettner moved into the lead with a jump of 142.5 meters, which later earned him a solid seventh place.

The highlight of the qualification came shortly after. Stephan Embacher, only 19 years old, jumped an impressive 145.5 meters and set a new hill record at the Große Olympiaschanze. He beat the previous record held by his compatriot Michael Hayböck, which had been set just last year.

After a reduction of the inrun length, Jan Hörl then took the lead. But the decisive moment was yet to come: the jump of the man in yellow followed and Domen Prevc once again confirmed his outstanding form. As he had already done in Oberstdorf, the Slovenian produced a controlled and confident jump of 139.5 meters. With a total of 150.6 points, Prevc secured the qualification victory for the New Year’s Jump in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, following his opening win in Oberstdorf. He finished ahead of Jan Hörl (146.2 points) and hill record holder Stephan Embacher (143.2 points), heading into the first competition of the new year as the clear favourite.

See the qualification results