Awesome Austrians soar to Zakopane Super Team success

Olympic gold medalist Jan Hoerl and two-time World Junior champion Stephan Embacher combined to help Austria claim victory in the first Men’s Super Team World Cup contest of the season with a dominant display in Zakopane (POL).

Hoerl, who won individual silver and bronze at the 2025 World Championships, was consistently the strongest performer throughout the contest, delivering the furthest jumps in his segment of the three rounds.

Together with Embacher they attained a 21.1-point lead after the opening round, which would eventually become a winning margin of 47.6pts, with a total of 805.9pts.

The battle for the other podium places was much tighter, with just 1.6pts separating Slovenia second from Norway in fourth, with hosts Poland sandwiched between them heading into the last round of jumps.

Ultimately it was Slovenian duo Anze Lanisek and Timi Zajc who ensured their nation would take second (758.3pts), with Polish teenager Kacper Tomasiak and veteran Dawid Kubacki combining (741.8pts) to attain the final podium position.

“It was a perfect day,” said a delighted Jan Hoerl, who also placed second in qualification for Sunday’s men’s individual World Cup, earlier on Saturday. 

“It was many jumps today (across qualification and the Super Team event), but I can show you five good jumps and the first as well as second round were perfect.

“I’m also super proud of Stephan (Embacher) who did a good job today so it’s a very nice day.”

The first Men’s Super Team event of the season offered not only medal opportunities and potentially crucial practice from the Zakopane Large Hill ahead of the individual contest on Sunday, but it also provided participants with the opportunity to test the format ahead of its Olympic Winter Games debut at the Milano-Cortina 2026 next month.

14 nations entered the contest, but with several of the World’s leading athletes opting to skip the Zakopane weekend in order to focus on preparations for the Asian leg of the World Cup tour, together with the Olympics, many nations felt they had podium potential.

Among those ‘surprise’ candidates was the Ukrainian duo of Yevhen Marusiak and Vitaliy Kalinichenko, who found themselves second after the first of three rounds.

Teams were comprised of two athletes, who each performed jumps with their scores were combined to form the overall standings, from which the top-12 would progress. The format was then repeated in the second round before the eight highest-scoring nations progressed to the final showdown.

In previous seasons a German team comprised of three-time Olympic medalist Karl Geiger and three-time World medalist Pius Paschke would have been expected to contest for the top honors, but neither have been in good form over the last 12 months.

They would reach the final round, but ultimately placed sixth.

Ukraine faded somewhat after their strong start, but a finishing position of seventh was still an impressive result for Marusiak and Kalinichenko.

With World Cup leader and Four Hills champion Domen Prevc (SLO) choosing to skip the Super Team event and conserve energy for the individual World Cup contest it was Timi Zajc who joined Anze Lanisek in the Slovenian line-up.

They were sixth halfway through the opening round, but powered back into contention with a series of impressive jumps, particularly delivered by Lanisek who would ultimately outscore Hoerl in the opposite half of the draw. 

Norway’s Halvor Egner Granerud and Kristoffer Eriksen Sundal are both seasoned performers and their consistency ensured they entered the final round in second.

Ultimately though, a shorter than expected jump from Granerud, 128m, combined with an outstanding final effort from Poland’s Tomasiak, 136.5m, would see the hosts claim the final podium position behind the impressive Slovenians.

No one had any answer to Hoerl and Embacher though, who were consistently among the top performers. Hoerl, who the Crystal Globe runner-up last season, has endured a challenging 2025/26 campaign by his high standards, but appears to be returning towards top form at a crucial stage, ahead of the Olympic Winter Games.

Ahead of that, he will be looking to attain a further confidence-boosting performance through Zakopane’s sole men’s individual World Cup contest on Sunday, although weather conditions are anticipated to deteriorate overnight.

“I hope I can show you another two good jumps tomorrow,” he told FIS. “I think tomorrow is a little bit windy and snow fall but yeah, but all I need are two good jumps so that’s the goal.”

FIS SKI JUMPING WORLD CUP – ZAKOPANE (POL):

Sunday - 11.01.2026
16:00 – Competition Start – Men’s LH
All times listed in CET and are subject to change.