Loitzl wins New Year’s jumping competition in Garmisch-Partenkirchen

Austrian ski jumper Wolfgang Loitzl is one of the longest-serving athletes in his sport and yesterday won a World Cup event for the first time in his career at the New Year’s jumping competition in Garmisch-Partenkirchen. With his victory on the Schattenberg hill in Partenkirchen, Loitzl also took the lead in the traditional Four Hills Tournament, one of the most prestigious events in ski jumping. With the final two events in Innsbruck (Sunday) and Bischofshofen (Tuesday) still to come, the Four Hills Tournament now looks set to be a two-horse race between Loitzl and Simon Ammann (Switzerland), who won the opening event in Oberstdorf.

Ammann had also been in the lead after the first round in Garmisch-Partenkirchen yesterday, but Loitzl ultimately took the win. In the end, just over 1 meter separated the rivals. The overall standings in the Four Hills Tournament are similarly close, so Innsbruck and Bischofshofen should see an exciting head-to-head contest.

From the German perspective, the New Year’s jumping competition in Garmisch-Partenkirchen was rather disappointing, at least compared with the opening event in Oberstdorf. The German ski flyers also had to contend with difficult wind conditions during parts of the second round, leaving Martin Schmitt in eighth place as the only German in the top ten. Schmitt is currently sixth in the overall Four Hills Tournament standings and now has a top-five finish in his sights. If the two remaining events in Innsbruck and Bischofshofen go his way, he could even manage third place in the tournament.