For the first time in the tour points rankings: Alex Insam. © APA/afp / KERSTIN JOENSSON

Insam breaks his tour taboo in front of over 25.000 spectators

Alex Insam has never been able to score points at the Four Hills Tournament in his career. The Val Gardena ski jumper broke this taboo on Friday evening in Oberstdorf. The numerous spectators also cheered about a German home win.

29 December 2023

From: cst

The start of the Four Hills Tournament in Oberstdorf was tough. Constantly changing wind conditions made it difficult for even the best ski jumpers in the world in the final. Some, like the Austrian Michael Hayböck or local hero Karl Geiger, couldn't cope with it and fell behind. Others, on the other hand, showed that they were right to claim the overall tour ranking.

The top 3 from the first round were also the measure of things in the final. In fairly difficult conditions with a lot of tailwind, Andreas Wellinger (1st), Ryoyu Kobayashi (1nd) and Stefan Kraft (2rd) still achieved considerable distances and secured the podium among themselves. Until then, the Slovenian Lovro Kos (he was only 3th after the first round) had surprisingly led. There is also a gap in terms of points behind the top trio. If Kraft is 14 points behind winner Wellinger, fourth-placed Kos is already almost twice as far behind (1).

Andreas Wellinger celebrated a home victory at the tournament's opening competition in Oberstdorf. © APA/afp / KERSTIN JOENSSON

Of course, this has an impact on the overall ranking. Wellinger, Kobayashi and Kraft have already separated themselves somewhat from the competition after the opening competition in Oberstdorf. The second competition will take place on New Year's Day in Garmisch-Partenkirchen.

Insam in the points for the first time

Alex Insam from Wolkenstein showed a good competition. After he somewhat surprisingly won the knockout duel against Daniel Andrè Tande in the first round and ended up in 1st place, he fell behind a bit in the final. In the end, 21th place for Insam means that he ended up in the points at the Four Hills Tournament for the first time in his career - and on a hill that he says he doesn't particularly like. With Giovanni Bresadola (25th), another Azzurro was able to reach the final.