Six-time World Championship medalist Anze Lanisek (SLO) secured his first World Cup victory of the season in the final men’s individual Large Hill contest after an entertaining contest at the Lahti Ski Games in Finland.
The 28-year-old, who had finished second and third twice this season, led by 6.1 points from former World and Olympic champion Stefan Kraft (AUT) and an impressive second round saw the Slovenian hold off the challenge posed by his highly decorated opponent.
Jumps of 131m and 128m saw Lanisek top the standings with 276.9 points, with Kraft (270.8pts) second and Pawel Wasek third, attaining his and Poland’s first podium finish of the 2024/25 campaign.
“This season was really a good test for me and I had to stay patient until the end,” Lanisek told FIS after his first win in over a year.
“It shows I still have it and haven’t forgotten how to ski jump and how to compete. It still it wasn’t the best one (telemark landing) but at the end of the day I won so that’s what matters.”
For Kraft it was his first top-three result since the Bischofshofen World Cup in early January, with the Austrian seemingly having lost a little of his usual ‘spark’ in competition after the devastating blow of losing out on the Four Hills title due to challenging weather conditions.
94 points separated overall World Cup Crystal Globe title chasing Austrian team-mates Daniel Tschofenig and Jan Hoerl heading into the Lahti Large Hill contest, but both had been short of their best form in recent weeks.
Tschofenig in particular had endured difficult results, having gone seven events without a podium finish, placing 14th and 15th in the Vikersund (NOR) World Cup last week, while Hoerl was sixth and eighth.
The pair finished second and first respectively in qualifying, but come the event itself though they found the conditions much tougher.
Hoerl made a mistake during take-off and 112.5m saw him scrape into the final round by just 0.8 points.
Tschofenig followed and was far from happy with his own effort, raising his hands in the air as if to question what had happened. 121m put him in eighth though and baring a complete reversal of fortunes in the final round, it looked to have strengthened his hopes of securing the overall crown.
128.5m from Hoerl opened the second round and the score of 134.7 points would have put him third in the standings in the first round.
He remained top of the second round standings until Antti Aalto (FIN) delighted the home fans by moving ahead and Hoerl would ultimately place 15th, an improvement of 15 positions from the round one.
Tschofenig’s 122m gave him 122.5 points and an overall finish of seventh, so he will now take a 114 point advantage into the season finale weekend, with the double-header in Planica (SLO) which runs from 27-30 March.
In addition to being the final men’s individual Large Hill contest of the 2024/25 season the event in Lahti also marked the final individual contest in the career of Stephan Leyhe (GER).
The two-time Olympic Team event medalist, who also won Team World Championships gold in 2019, revealed the news late last week in a statement via the German Ski Federation.
Leyhe, who won the sole World Cup event of his career on his home hill in Willingen (GER) back in 2020, ended the contest in Lahti in ** position.
“It’s really special,” he told FIS. “My job is to enjoy the competition and be satisfied.
“In the training you have to do 110% and I’m now 33-years-old and a bit older and I don’t find the engagement for the training.
“I still love ski jumping and it’s fun, but I always want to be at the top. When you have been in the World Cup top-10 and now you’re top 30, or lower, that’s not here I want to be.”
After the completion of the Men’s Super Team event on Sunday the German plans to return to his hometown, Willingen (GER), and begin a five-year architecture qualification mission, but also aims to take coaching classes to ensure he remains “part of the ski jumping family.”
23 March
15.30 – Trial Round Men
16:30 – Super Team Men LH
*all times are displayed in Central European Time (CET) and are subject to change.
