Four Hills Tournament 2023/24: Jan Hoerl wins in difficult conditions at Innsbruck - ski jumping results
Austria's first-round leader Hoerl showed nerves of steel to seal second World Cup win ever, ahead of overall leader Kobayashi Ryoyu in prestigious annual ski jumping event.
Ski Jumping
Jan Hoerl navigated difficult conditions to seal his first Four Hills victory at home in Innsbruck on Wednesday (3 January 2024).
With strong and inconsistent wins causing regular delays to proceedings, the Austrian ski jumper was top after the opening round with a mammoth leap of 134m.
The 25-year-old, who had previously only won one event in the men's Ski Jumping World Cup circuit, then showed nerves of steel to land a 127.5m effort on the final jump to win the event in front of a huge 21,000 crowd.
"I'm super happy, there were lots of emotions and feelings as I took the second win of my career, at home," Hoerl said after the win.
"Maybe my first round jump was my best ever, but it was mostly a big relief just to get a good jump to start off."
Silver went to the ever-consistent Japanese Kobayashi Ryoyu, while Austria’s Michael Hayboeck gave the home fans another medal to cheer, completing the podium with bronze.
Hoerl’s win means that there have been three winners in three events in the Four Hills so far this year, with just one event to go in Bischofshofen, 5-6 January.
Two-time Four Hills champion Kobayashi leads the overall standings with 857.6 points, just ahead of Germany’s Andreas Wellinger on 852.8, meaning everything is to play for at the weekend.
Four Hills Tournament 2023/24: Results from Innsbruck HS128 event on Wednesday 3 January - top 10
- Jan Hoerl (AUT) 267.5 points
- Kobayashi Ryoyu (JPN) -8.8
- Michael Hayboeck (AUT) -13.5
- Lovro Kos (SLO) -14.3
- Andreas Wellinger (GER) -15.4
- Stefan Kraft (AUT) -19.2
- Anze Lanisek (SLO) -22.17
- Daniel Tschofenig (AUT) -23.1
- Clemens Aigner (AUT) -25.1
- Timi Zajc (SLO) -31.8