Four Austrians ended up in the top five in ski jumping at the start of the World Cup. Maximilian Ortner surprised everyone with his podium finish in Lillehammer and thereby fulfilled a personal dream.
Behind the German day winner Pius Paschke, an Austrian ski jumping quartet lined up on Saturday with Daniel Tschofenig (2nd), Maximilian Ortner (3rd), Stefan Kraft (4th) and Jan Hörl (5th). While Tschofenig knows the feeling of a podium finish in the World Cup, for Ortner it was a first. The 22-year-old was even happier.
“I don’t know what’s going on myself. It’s indescribable what just happened. A dream has come true to be on the podium in the World Cup,” Ortner commented on his coup to the “ORF”.
“He didn’t even know he was coming here a few days ago,” said teammate Hörl, recalling that Ortner only joined the Austrian team after Daniel Huber dropped out due to injury. “He’s doing a good job,” praised Hörl, who came third on the day.
Ski jumping: “Brilliant day” for Pius Paschke
“We did a lot of things right in preparation. It’s absolutely not a given that it will turn out like this,” said Tschofenig, assessing the ÖSV team’s good performance: “We can all be satisfied.”
Regarding Paschke’s victory, the 22-year-old said: “It’s really, really cool what Pius is doing. Otherwise he wouldn’t jump down like that. Today was a brilliant day for him.”
Already on Sunday (4 p.m. in the live ticker at sport.de) we continue in Lillehammer. Then it’s all about the next World Cup points in ski jumping in the Norwegian winter sports stronghold.
His surprising podium finish should give Ortner further impetus. The native of Carinthia celebrated his World Cup debut in ski jumping in January 2023.
Source: www.sport.de
