In the inaugural competition of the Four Hills Tournament in Oberstdorf, Swiss jumpers show a strong team performance. At least three Swiss ski athletes are in the top 15. And the best of the three Swiss is the one that still could not be expected after the season.

Gregor Deschwanden showed his best performance of the season at the larger Schatenbergschwanz in the Allgu and was awarded tenth place. In heavy rain, the 30-year-old from Lucerne jumped 129 and 122.5 metres. After the first round, Deschwanden was also in eighth intermediate and had little misfortune with the outside conditions on his second jump.

After his first jump, veteran Simon Ammann and current Swiss team leader Kilian Peir finished 15th. A good brand for Amman, but a bit of a disappointment for the formidable Peer. In the second round, the routine prevailed: Ammann jumped 125 meters and finished 13th. Peer reached the same distance, but received a lower wind bonus due to slightly better conditions. The 26-year-old placed himself in 14th place, directly behind Amman. Peer’s ranking was worse this winter only in the season opener in Russia at the end of November, it is still his best result so far in Oberstdorf. With its 13th place, Amman has now also formally qualified for Beijing (February 4 to 22), the Olympic range of Swiss skis was ranked in the top 20 and has therefore been completed. Nothing stands in the way of a double-double Olympic champion’s seventh participation in the Olympic Games.

«Mister Oberstdorf» wins again

In a close decision at the top, Japanese Ryoyu Kobayashi won ahead of Norwegian halver Agner Grenrud and his compatriot Robert Johansson. For the 25-year-old Japanese, it is the fourth World Cup win since 2018 in Oberstdorf. And once again he made the difference with his second jump. In good conditions, “Mister Oberstdorf” jumped 141 meters, the best value of the day. In the end, 2.8 points did the odds in favor of the 2018/19 overall Tour winner.

And while Switzerland is happy about having three jumpers in the top 15, it wouldn’t be worth jumping for joy to the ski jumping nation of Norway. In the north you’re used to top results – and the Norwegian jumpers deliver. Halvor stood next to Kobayashi on the two podiums with Grenerudd and Robert Johansson (- 3.4 points). and Marius Lindvik (- 5.7) with another Norwegian coming down to fourth.

a turkey highlight

A special story was written in the lower ranks: a top 15 result or even a podium place is still a long way off for Fatih Arda Ipsioglu. But by jumping 120 meters in the first round, Ipsioglu became the first Turk to qualify for the second round at the Ski Jumping World Cup. In the end, it was enough for the 24-year-old to finish in 29th place. It was not until November that he became the first Turkish jumper to qualify for the World Cup.

The traditional Four Hills tournament, which will be held for the 70th time this winter, continues with the New Year’s competition in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, before continuing on to Innsbruck (January 4) and finally Bischofshofen (January 6). (TGI)