Four Hills Tournament 2023/24: Andreas Wellinger wins opening round at Oberstdorf as Granerud falters - results
Wellinger wins in front of a sell-out home crowd in Oberstdorf, but Norway's defending Four Hills champion Granerud already looks out of the running after continuing his poor season form.
Ski Jumping
A 25,500 sell-out at the ski jumping stadium in Oberstdorf had much to cheer after Germany's home favourite Andreas Wellinger took home the victory in the first event of the 2023/24 Four Hills Tournament on Friday (29 December).
Wellinger's victory was also his first of the season on the FIS Ski Jumping World Cup circuit after four previous podium finishes.
The 2018 normal hill Olympic champion led after the first round with a resounding 161.3 points, and while his second-round jump was only the sixth-best, his overall total of 309.3 points was still three points clear of Japan's Kobayashi Ryoyu.
Austria's World Cup overall leader Stefan Kraft was third on 298.9 points, over ten points behind Wellinger.
"I'm speechless for now, it's […] amazing. I don't realise, it's crazy to win in Oberstdorf in front of this amazing audience. I already won the qualification yesterday and I did another great job," a delighted Wellinger told FIS TV afterwards.
The biggest surprise of the first round saw last year's Four Hills winner, Halvor Egner Granerud of Norway, eliminated after scoring just 100.7 points. The Norwegian has struggled this season on the World Cup and lost his head-to-head against Italian Giovanni Bresadola, whose 103.3 was the lowest first-round score to make it through to the second round.
"I just feel empty, it's a tough one to take," Granerud told Eurosport. "The season has been quite bad already and this was obviously a chance to make at least something out of the season.
"But now the Four Hills is over for me already and we haven't even come halfway in the first round."
Four Hills Tournament 2023/24: Results from Obertsdorf HS137 event on Friday 29 December - top 10
- Andreas Wellinger (GER) 309.3 points
- Kobayashi Ryoyu (JPN) -3.0
- Stefan Kraft (AUT) -10.4
- Lovro Kos (SLO) -19.6
- Marius Lindvik (NOR) -23.2
- Philipp Raimund (GER) -23.3
- Karl Geiger (GER) -23.9
- Jan Hoerl (AUT) -24.2
- Peter Prevc (SLO) -27.3
- Michael Hayboeck (AUT) -27.9