Embacher dominates a turbulent weekend in Vikersund

Prevc had demonstrated his class in Friday’s qualifying round. The Overall World Cup winner had dominated the field during training and cemented his status as favourite with two best jumps, including a spectacular flight of 245 metres. The Slovenian confirmed this strong form in the qualifying round as well, which he won convincingly with a jump of 219.5 metres. Behind him, Isak Andreas Langmo took second place and Ren Nikaido third. The German team put in a solid performance, with all six athletes qualifying for the competition, but were unable to challenge for the top spots. The best DSV athlete was Pius Paschke in eleventh place, just ahead of Luca Roth. Philipp Raimund, Geiger, Wellinger and Ben Bayer also fell short of expectations.

On Saturday, the spotlight shifted to another athlete: Stephan Embacher celebrated his first World Cup victory with jumps of 232 and 225 metres. With a total of 459.1 points, the 20-year-old came out on top ahead of Tomofumi Naito and Johann Andre Forfang. Embacher had already taken the lead in the first round and held on to secure victory in the final. Prevc, on the other hand, was unable to fully confirm his strong form and dropped back to fifth place after a weaker second jump. From a German perspective, Andreas Wellinger and Karl Geiger provided the main highlights: Wellinger finished seventh, Geiger ninth. Philipp Raimund showed an improvement in performance with a new personal best, but could not go beyond 18th place. Paschke collected further points in 26th place, whilst Roth and Bayer missed out on the final round.

However, the second competition scheduled for Sunday had to be cancelled. Strong and changeable wind conditions made safe jumping impossible. Despite several postponements, the jury finally decided to cancel the competition altogether. The qualification round had already been abandoned after just nine jumpers.

The day was overshadowed by a serious fall involving Tomasiak, who lay motionless in the landing area after a jump of 192 metres and required medical attention. Fortunately, the team officials later gave the all-clear: the 19-year-old apparently did not suffer any serious injuries, but complained of pain in his cervical spine and was examined as a precaution.

Following the turbulent weekend in Vikersund, attention now turns to the grand season finale: in Planica, Slovenia, the World Cup season traditionally concludes with two individual and one team competition, a fitting end to a spectacular ski flying season.