Four Hills Tournament 2023/24: Kobayashi Ryoyu clinches third Golden Eagle Trophy as Stefan Kraft takes Bischofshofen win - results
The Japanese ski jumper adds to his titles from 2019 and 2022 with his fourth straight second-place finish, becoming the first man since 1999 to win the Four Hills without an event victory.
Ski Jumping
Japan's Kobayashi Ryoyu joined an exclusive club of men to win three Four Hills ski jumping tournaments after finishing a narrow second in the last of the four events at Bischofshofen on Saturday (6 January 2024).
The 27-year-old – who also won the title in 2019 and 2022 – became just the sixth man to claim at least three Golden Eagle trophies, joining Helmut Recknagel (3), Bjørn Wirkola (3), Jens Weissflog (4), Janne Ahonen (5), and Kamil Stoch (3).
Despite tricky conditions at the Austrian resort, with a mix of rain and snow catching some jumpers out and resulting in a low start gate of 13 in the first round, Kobayashi was in fine form.
He all but sealed the overall title with his first-round jump. Closest challenger Andreas Wellinger of Germany, entering Bischofshofen 4.8 points behind the overall standings, only managed to score 129.9 in the opening round.
That meant Kobayashi, jumping last after topping Friday's qualifying round, knew he could put distance between himself and his rival. And he did just that, his 137-metre jump scoring 144.1 points to extend his lead to exactly 19 points, meaning Wellinger would need to out-jump him by more than 10m in the second round before taking into account the judges' scoring.
The second round saw the start gate moved up two levels to gate 15, meaning the athletes would be able to register longer distances on their second jumps.
Wellinger managed a 137m second jump, adding nearly seven metres to his first-round attempt for a total score of 267.9 points. But Kobayashi leapt 139m in the second round for a total of 287.6 points, just beaten out for the win by outright World Cup leader Stefan Kraft.
Home favourite Kraft had trailed by just 1.2 points after the opening round and a magnificent 140m second round jump saw him sneak past Kobayashi for a total of 288.9 and victory on the day.
Remarkably, Kobayashi won the Golden Eagle by recording four second-placed finishes, a beacon of consistency behind four different winners at each of the stops this season. Ahonen was the last man to win the trophy without an event victory, doing so in 1999.
Jan Hoerl, who won at Innsbruck to go third overall, dropped out of the overall podium spots after a disappointing first round saw him score only 115.5 points. His total of 259.5 saw him overtaken by teammate Kraft, who also nearly overhauled Wellinger in the Four Hills standings.
When Kobayashi was asked by Eurosport afterwards if this triumph was easier than his previous two, he laughed as he replied, "I don't remember!"
He added, "Today there was too much happening, but I concentrated on my jumping and I was really satisfied."
Four Hills Tournament 2023/24: Results from Bischofshofen HS142 event on Saturday 6 January - top 10
- Stefan Kraft (AUT) 288.9 points
- Kobayashi Ryoyu (JPN) -1.3
- Anze Lanisek (SLO) -7.1
- Manuel Fettner (AUT) -17.5
- Andreas Wellinger (GER) -21.0
- Clemens Aigner (AUT) -22.4
- Halvor Egner Granerud (NOR) -23.5
- Pius Paschke (GER) -26.6
- Peter Prevc (SLO) -27.1
- Jan Hoerl (AUT) -29.4