Ski jumping: Paschke cannot be stopped: Tour hopes at 34

Pius Paschke fell around his teammate Andreas Wellinger’s neck, national coach Stefan Horngacher raised both arms up in celebration on the coaching tower: ski jumping oldie Paschke cannot be stopped. The 34-year-old celebrated his third win of the season at the World Cup in Wisla, Poland, and further extended his lead in the overall World Cup. At the award ceremony, Paschke happily sang along to the German national anthem. When the music faded, his teammates celebrated him wildly.

Paschke prevailed with jumps of 136 and 133.5 meters ahead of the second-placed Austrian Jan Hörl and his compatriot Stefan Kraft in third place. For Paschke it was his fifth podium finish in the sixth competition of the season. The day before, the Bavarian had finished third. Afterwards he spoke of a “cool competition”. On Sunday he even improved again. The second best German was Wellinger in seventh place.

Technical breakdowns don’t stop Paschke

“Pius did it confidently and won confidently. You can only take your hat off to this performance today,” said national coach Stefan Horngacher on ARD. “Pius has developed extremely well in recent years. He jumps at a very high and stable level.” Even a technical breakdown couldn’t stop this winter’s high-flyer.

Horngacher explained that he actually wanted to shorten the run-up before the last jump and thus give Paschke the chance for bonus points. But that didn’t work for some unknown reason. “We have to look again to see where the mistake is,” said Horngacher and added with a smile in view of the end result: “But that doesn’t matter to us.”

Before this season, Paschke had only one individual World Cup victory in his long career. Last year, the police chief from Kiefersfelden celebrated its special premiere in Engelberg, Switzerland. The traditional dress rehearsal for the Four Hills Tournament will also take place there shortly before Christmas this year.

Ski jumping home game is coming up

Thanks to his unexpected successes, Paschke is increasingly becoming the favorite for the prestigious fight for the Golden Eagle, which begins on December 29th in Oberstdorf. Since Sven Hannawald in 2002, no German has won the overall tour ranking. Can someone make it this year that almost no one had on their list for it before the season?

Paschke’s next opportunity to confirm his great condition is next weekend. Then the German ski jumping home game in Titisee-Neustadt is on the program.