Ski Jumping in Ruka - Strong Performance! Hörl and Kraft on the Podium – Paschke Wins

The Austrian ski jumpers have continued their strong season start with more podium finishes. On Saturday in Ruka, Pius Paschke from Germany secured the win again, clearly outperforming Jan Hörl and Stefan Kraft who took the next spots.

Paschke had already won the opener last week in Lillehammer, while Hörl had taken the second event. Another large hill competition is scheduled for Ruka on Sunday.

The ÖSV team was undeterred by the lack of training jumps due to late-arriving skis, as well as by the biting cold and gusty winds. With four athletes finishing among the top seven, coach Andreas Widhölzl's team performed excellently once again. However, Paschke was unyielding, maintaining a strong lead after the first round and winning by 8.9 points over Hörl. "I'm really happy to be back on the podium and the streak continues," said Hörl.

World Cup title defender Stefan Kraft, who took his first podium finish of the winter, finished just 11.4 points behind Paschke, who has now won three career events. "This is my first podium this year, I’m very happy. It’s not easy when the last bit of confidence isn’t quite there, but I really put it all together in the second run and went for it — it was a lot of fun," said Kraft, who had previously finished fourth in Norway twice.

Daniel Tschofenig and newcomer Maximilian Ortner finished sixth and seventh, respectively, behind Kristoffer Eriksen Sundal (NOR) and Andreas Wellinger (GER). Meanwhile, Daniel Huber underwent successful surgery on his injured knee back home, embarking on rehabilitation that is expected to last the entire season.