Four-time World junior champion Daniel Tschofenig (AUT) continued to demonstrate his potential to sustain senior success with his second World Cup victory of the season.
The 22-year-old Austrian, who claimed the first World Cup win of his career just two weeks ago, had placed second in the first race of the weekend in Engelberg, Switzerland, on Saturday.
Despite challenging conditions, with fluctuating winds and heavy snowfall, Tschofenig delivered an even greater performance on Sunday.
He finished the two rounds with a combined score of 274.8 points, with countrymen Jan Hoerl (269.7) and Stefan Kraft (268.0) placing second and third respectively.
The result, combined with World Cup leader Pius Paschke (GER) finishing a surprise 20th means Tschofenig has narrowed the gap to the German to 79 points in the overall standings.
“It was great,” remarked the Austrian when recalling his weekend in Engelberg.
“It started great with qualifying on Friday, then second place yesterday and now the win today, so I couldn’t be happier.”
Tschofenig was also full of praise for those who worked tirelessly on the course to enable the competition to take place, something which surprised many of the male athletes after the inclement conditions led to the cancellation of the women’s World Cup earlier in the day.
“We were all set, thinking for sure there would be no competition today but a big thank you to all the volunteers who worked so hard all weekend,” said the Austrian. “And also to the whole of FIS, it was a great competition today.”
Following a slight improvement in the weather, after the earlier cancellation of the women’s World Cup, venue officials worked tirelessly to prepare the hill for the men’s competition.
Snowfall was still heavy, but the wind had dropped, enabling the 50-strong field to being the first of what they hoped would be two full rounds of competition.
Piotr Zyla (POL) had been well-placed for a successful World Cup on Saturday, before he was disqualified ahead of the second round and he was the first to hit the 120 mark from the HS120 hill.
The target distances would though, as expected, increase significantly, with Johann Andre Forfang (NOR) and then Timi Zajc (SLO), wearing the number 55 and 57 bibs, both the 130m mark.
Maximilian Ortner (AUT) had topped qualifying, for the first time in his career, during the early morning session and showed he would again be pushing for a top-ranking by recording a jump of 134m, which scored 131.8 points.
Team-mate Stefan Kraft (AUT), who won the 2023/24 crystal globe, edged ahead, as did Daniel Tschofenig (AUT) and they occupied positions one and two respectively, at the end of the opening round.
Austrian athletes held four of the top five positions in fact, with home-favourite Gregor Deschwanden (SUI) in third and looking for a second podium finish in as many days.
Just 11 points separated leader Tschofenig (AUT) and countryman Markus Mueller (AUT) in tenth heading into the second round, which would feature the top 30 ranked athletes.
Starting that second round much earlier than expected, after a disappointing first jump, was World Cup leader Pius Pasckhe (GER).
Despite five victories in the opening weeks of the season, he placed tenth in the first Engelberg World Cup on Saturday and was in 24th after round one on Sunday.
He would improve his distance considerable, but his overall placement would not increase a great deal. 20th and he will now hope a few days off over the festive period will revitalise his prospects of Four-Hills success across venues in his homeland as well as Austria.
The snowfall continued to thicken as the afternoon progressed into evening and with officials keen to ensure the men were able to complete two rounds, the competition pace picked up too.
Aleksander Zniszczol (POL) and Ryoyu Kobayashi (JPN) were among the major benefactors of the changeable conditions, each rising 11 places between the rounds, but they would not challenge for the podium places.
Benjamin Oestvold (NOR) had a career-best of 10th heading into this World Cup he rose 12 spots to claim eighth.
Deschwanden, cheered on by 3,000 excitable fans in the Engelberg venue, fell just short of a second successive World Cup medal, with fifth, just behind Johann Andre Forfang (NOR).
Kraft (AUT) was a near unstoppable force for much of the 2023/24 campaign, claiming 13 victories en route to the overall World Cup crystal globe title.
He has so far been unable to recapture that form this season, but will be encouraged by a third podium during the last month.
Hoerl, who impressively won Saturday’s World Cup, improved two places between the first and second rounds on Sunday, to take second after recording the longest jump of the day – 138.5m.
That was added to his earlier effort of 130m, to gain a combined score of 269.7 points.
However, Tschofenig’s greater consistency over the two rounds – 135m and 137.5m – ensured he was the ski jumper celebrating loudest after his combined score of 274.8 was confirmed.
