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Four Hills Tournament – With the Dire Straits to the Golden Eagle? Paschke’s rise at 34 – Bayern

Four Hills Tournament – With the Dire Straits to the Golden Eagle? Paschke’s rise at 34 – Bayern

Oberstdorf (dpa) – Pius Paschke has already experienced ski jumping competitions where the physiotherapists were the only spectators. There weren’t particularly many eyes on the now 34-year-old police chief back then. Not much changed in that regard for a long time. For years, Paschke became a rather inconspicuous follower in ski jumping mediocrity.

When the 73rd Four Hills Tournament begins on Sunday (4:30 p.m./ZDF and Eurosport), the Bavarian will attract the maximum attention of the over 25,000 fans in Oberstdorf. Paschke’s yellow jersey will shine and stand out in the sold-out arena in Allgäu.

Became a winning jumper at the age of 33: Pius Paschke. (Photo: Philipp von Ditfurth/dpa)

The impressive preliminary achievements of five wins and seven podium finishes will make the veteran one of the big tour favorites – and gives hope that the 23-year lull since Sven Hannawald’s overall victory for ski jumping Germany will finally end.

Pithy sayings? None

“I want to take the good drive of the last few weeks with me into the tour.” “The self-confidence is good and I know which technical details I have to work on,” said family father Paschke about the short break with his loved ones. Pithy sayings or self-confident goals? None. Paschke has become a winning jumper in old age, but has remained inconspicuous away from the jump.

“What sets Pius apart is definitely the ability to continue working in old age,” said Olympic champion Andreas Wellinger, who, thanks to his teammate’s successes, can start the ski jump spectacle with a little less pressure this time.

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Hannawald hopes for “this story”

But as of last year, Wellinger can quickly become a sporting rival for Paschke – apart from his own team, this will primarily be the outstanding Austrians around Daniel Tschofenig, Jan Hörl and ex-overall winner Stefan Kraft.

Since Hannawald 2002, there have been numerous German candidates for the Golden Eagle, which will be awarded to the overall winner on January 6th in Bischofshofen. But for Severin Freund, Wellinger, Markus Eisenbichler and Karl Geiger there was always at least one opponent too strong.

And now Paschke? “People always talk about: The tour writes its own stories.” I wouldn’t be surprised if it was this story with Pius. “I would be happy,” Hannawald told dpa.

What does the Engelberg break-in mean?

As is often the case in ski jumping, Paschke’s career is difficult to explain. At the age of 33, the man from Kiefersfelden became a winning jumper. One winter later he suddenly added success after success and became the best ski jumper in the world. He now has to prove whether he will stay in the Alps during the critical ten days. The recent drop in performance in Engelberg, when he finished tenth and 18th, didn’t bode well.

National coach Stefan Horngacher is impressed by the career of his currently best protégé. “You mature as you get older, you always become smarter, a little wiser.” And that’s how it goes on now. And then when you have a family, when you have children, then it goes on again. And that can help, but it can also be negative,” said Horngacher. Things have actually only been going up for Paschke since he started his family.

The police chief experienced the most successful winter of his career to date. (Photo: Philipp Schmidli/KEYSTONE/dpa)

“I am the Pius from Kiefersfelden”

Coach Horngacher and athlete Paschke share a common hobby: the guitar, which they both enjoy playing during the travel-filled World Cup months. They only differ when it comes to the style of music: “I’m more of a metal guy. The Pius is more like Dire Straits.”

Whether “So far away”, “The Man’s too strong” or “Walk of Life”: there are some titles from the repertoire of the rock band around singer Mark Knopfler that could potentially be suitable for the upcoming tour hustle and bustle surrounding Paschke. The down-to-earth police officer gives himself and his usual situation a simpler title: “I’m the Pius from Kiefersfelden and I really enjoy ski jumping.” I think that’s how I would describe it.”

© dpa-infocom, dpa:241226-930-327810/2