Awesome Austrians top Planica Men’s Team World Cup podium

Mar 28, 2026·Ski Jumping

Austria have now won the Men's Team event four years in a row, in Planica - FIS/Action Press/Julia Piatkowska

‘Birthday boy’ Daniel Tschofenig (AUT) helped his Austrian line-up secure victory following a fascinating eight rounds of wind-impacted Ski Flying Men’s Team event action, at the season-ending World Cup in Planica (SLO).

2024/25 Crystal Globe winner Tschofenig and Beijing 2022 Olympic champion team-mate Stefan Kraft were part of Austrian squad which claimed World Ski Flying silver in January.

This time they were joined by Markus Mueller and Stephan Embacher, with the foursome combining to attain an overall score of 1439.5 points.

“We had a high performance and we’re really lucky to win this competition,” said Kraft, after helping Austria secure their fourth-successive Men’s Team event win in Planica.

“It’s so great to jump in front of so many ski jumping fanatics.

Kraft continued; “We love this, to jump here in Planica in the sunshine and this classical team event is such great fun.”

World champions Japan led for much of the contest, but their team of Naoki Nakamura, Tomofumi Naito, Ryoyu Kobayashi, Ren Nikaido would ultimately have to settle for second, with 1425.6pts.

Completing the podium places and matching their result from the 2026 World Championships in Oberstdorf (GER), were Norway’s Robin Pedersen, Isak Langmo, Marius Lindvik, Johann Forfang, who scored 1418pts.

The 30,000 strong, capacity crowd, had gathered at the Planica Nordic Centre in anticipation of a great morning of ski flying, but were also hoping to be able to celebrate host-nation success.

Stefan Kraft, Stefan Embacher, Daniel Tschofenig and Markus Mueller (left to right) - FIS/Action Press/Julia Piatkowska

The chances of that took a hit from the opening round though, with Rok Oblak (SLO) managing just 197m and a score of 138.4pts, which put them bottom of the standings.

They would gather momentum throughout the rest of the round, but with Olympic gold medalists Anze Lanisek and Domen Prevc short of their best form, they would ultimately finish short of the podium places in fifth (1332.8pts).

Germany, who were represented by Pius Paschke, Karl Geiger, Andreas Wellinger and Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Normal Hill champion Philipp Raimund recovered from a slow start to ultimately finish fourth (1374.7pts).

Langmo (NOR), who had enjoyed a strong season on the second-tier FIS Continental Cup circuit and placed fourth at the Vikersund World Cup in his homeland last weekend, impressed again, recording the furthest jump of the day, with 239m in the second round.

Geiger (GER) was close, with 238.5m in the first round, but fluctuating winds resulted in a number of gate changes, which made it challenging for many within the field to attain the biggest numbers, in terms of distance.

The performance of Olympic Super Team gold medallist Embacher (AUT), who recorded jumps of 233.5m and 221m was particularly impressive given he suffered a dramatic crash after landing a colossal jump of 240m in the second round of the men’s individual World Cup contest on Friday.

Prevc (SLO) will return to individual World Cup action for the final time of the season on Sunday, where he is seeking a record equalling 15^th victory during the 2025/26 campaign, which would see him go level with brother Peter Prevc, who set the mark in 2015/16.