Pius Paschke (GER) mastered Lillehammer’s challenging and changeable conditions to claim victory in the season opening men’s FIS Ski Jumping World Cup in Norway.
It was his second victory in 24 hours, following a season-opening success as part of Germany’s Mixed Team line-up on Friday.
He improved from sixth after the opening round to soar into the lead with the furthest jump of the day – 138.5m – which helped him to an overall total of 317.1 points.
The other two podium places were taken by Austrian athletes, with Daniel Tschofenig (309.2) second and Maximilian Ortner (307.1) taking third, the first World Cup podium of his career.
Stefan Kraft (AUT), who won the crystal globe last season, had entered the final round leading the field, but would ultimately place fourth, 11.1 points behind Paschke.
“It was quite perfect, yesterday already the win and today amazing,” Paschke told FIS.
“The first jump was not quite perfect, but it was good and I saw that it (the score) was really close to the top (of the standings) so I went all in with the final chance and it went quite well.”
The 34-year-old made his international debut back in 2005, but only achieved his first individual World Cup win last season.
Paschke is understandably seen as a ‘late bloomer’ in the sport and was hailed by national coach Stefan Horngacher for his persistence and contribution to the national setup.
“He showed how strong he was yesterday and (today) his last jump was almost perfect,” he told FIS.
“He did a really good job and I’m really happy for him.”
While qualifying for the second round, with a top-30 placing is key, scores in the first count towards the overall total and therefore those hoping to push for the podium places needed to make strong starts.
Tate Frantz (USA) is yet to attain a World Cup top-three, but the 19-year-old did claim a historic bronze in the Grand Prix circuit in September and showed why many within the sport see him as a potential champion of the future.
His score of 147.9 put him in ninth and gave further evidence of the benefits USA ski jumpers like Frantz are gaining from working closely with the Norwegian team.
One of their line-up, Kristoffer Eriksen Sundal (NOR), had one of the most talked-about athletes during the qualifying session earlier on Saturday, but not solely for his jump – although his recovery was remarkable.
Ahead of a gate adjustment the backboard was moved while Sundal was sat on the bar, catching the ski jumper by surprising and launching him down the hill early.
Remarkably Sundal recomposed himself and scored 131.00, which was enough to qualify him in 12th place, but he was not happy.
Perhaps fuelled by that frustration he delivered one of the most impressive first round efforts, travelling 134.5m and recording a score of 152.6.
At that stage it gave him a share of the lead with 2022/23 crystal globe winner Halvor Egner Granerud (NOR), who claimed that overall title with 12 victories among 18 podium finishes.
The Norwegian did not claim a single medal last season, but showed signs of a return to form during the summer Grand Prix circuit.
22-year-old Daniel Tschofenig (AUT) moved into the lead towards the end of the first round with a score of 153.5 points, but his countryman Jan Hoerl (AUT), who had topped the qualifying event, struggled and placed 12th at the halfway stage.
There were no such problems for another Austrian, the defending champion Stefan Kraft (AUT).
Much like the women’s 2023/24 crystal globe winner – Nika Prevc (SLO) – earlier in the day, he eased back into World Cup action with a sublime opening score 154.7.
Just 9.6 points separated him from Hoerl though, meaning it was far too close to call the podium finishers at the halfway stage.
The first of those to take to the hill in the second round was Markus Eisenbichler (GER), a six-time world champion who claimed bronze as part of the Large Hill event at Beijing 2022.
He only featured sporadically on the World Cup circuit last season after a significant dip in form and the early signs in his 2024/25 campaign is that he still has work to do, although his second round jump of 129m was a significant improvement on round one’s effort of 118.5m.
Andreas Wellinger (GER) is a four-time Olympic medallist, who secured gold medals at Sochi 2014 (team) and PyeongChang 2018 (individual) and helped Germany to a season-opening Mixed Team World Cup title on Friday.
Individually he was well short of his best in the opening round but he made up 16 places to rank 12th in the overall standings.
His team-mate and fellow Mixed Team gold medallist Pius Paschke (GER) also demonstrated improved form when jumping from the HS140 hill for the second time.
166.3 points saw him power to the top of the leader board, where he remained after challenges posed by Granerud (NOR) and Sundal (NOR) failed to progress in the second round.
22-year-old Ortner Maximilian (AUT) leapt two places to third, to secure the first World Cup podium place of his career, while team-mate Daniel Tschofenig (AUT) held onto second.
Defending champion Stefan Kraft (AUT) was the last to take to the hill in what had already been a dramatic finale, but he landed 3m short of the distance attained in round one and his points total was impacted accordingly.
24.11.2024
08:30 – QUA Women’s LH
12:30 – WC Women’s LH
09:30 – QUA Men’s LH
16:00 – WC Men’s LH
All times listed are CET.
