Jan Hörl maintains stellar form at Hinzenbach Grand Prix stop

Jan Hörl and Daniel Tschofenig showed that the Austrian team will again be tough to beat this World Cup season as they led the way in Hinzenbach (AUT) last weekend.

The penultimate stop of the 2025 FIS Ski Jumping Grand Prix saw two normal hill competitions, with previous series leader Niklas Bachlinger (AUT) skipping the event.

Having won on the normal hill at Val di Fiemme (ITA) last month, Hörl led after the first round of Saturday’s Hinzenbach opener thanks to a superb leap of 94.0m.

However, a lacklustre second effort saw him slip to third with Philipp Raimund (GER) taking victory ahead of Tschofenig, whose second jump earned the best score of the day.

Hörl, who celebrated his 27th birthday on Thursday, made amends on Sunday. He led Ryoyu Kobayashi (JPN) by 4.4 points after the first round, and had the highest score of the day in the second round to return to the top of the podium.

Reigning World Cup champion Tschofenig produced another fine second jump to move above Kobayashi into the runner-up position, but Raimund was left wondering what might have been.

The 25-year-old German flew out to 93.0m on his second attempt, but landed with his skis together instead of in the telemark position. And while his fourth place - 7.6 points behind Hörl - was enough to put him on top of the Grand Prix series standings, a clean landing would almost certainly have secured him back-to-back triumphs.

After his first career success in Hinzenbach, Hörl said, “It’s wonderful to win at home. This hill is great. I’m really proud of this victory, and being on the podium with my mate Daniel makes it even more special.”

It was a case of mixed emotions for Raimund at the end of the weekend. “My first jump was not that good, but in the final I had a really good jump,” he said. “The landing could have been better and I unfortunately missed the podium because of it.

“But, overall, I am satisfied and happy about the fact that I will now go to the final round in Klingenthal (GER) as the overall leader of the FIS Grand Prix wearing the yellow leader’s bib.”

Going into the finale on home soil, Raimund holds an advantage of 42 points over Sakutaro Kobayashi (JPN) with Bachlinger six points further adrift. One large hill event next Saturday (October 25) will decide the outcome of this year’s Grand Prix.

The women’s Grand Prix will also be decided on Saturday with Nozomi Maruyama (JPN) leading the way. The 27-year-old has six podium finishes from eight competitions, but is yet to make the top step.

After three wins from six starts, world champion and Crystal Globe holder Nika Prevc (SLO) is 50 points behind. Even were she to win in Klingenthal, another podium finish would be enough for Maruyama to claim the title in what has been a break-out summer for the Japanese.