Shock start to the Four Hills: Stoch tops Poles in Oberstdorf qualifying; all five advance

Encouraging news for Poland from Oberstdorf: despite modest training results, all five Polish ski jumpers safely qualified for the opening Four Hills Tournament competition, and the headliner among them was Kamil Stoch in 14th.

Wind was blowing in the jumpers’ backs throughout qualifying, prompting multiple gate raises as the session went on. For a long stretch no one cleared the K-point (120 m) until Sandro Hauswirth did with 121.5 m. Soon after, Maciej Kot took advantage of a brief lull to fly 126.5 m and take the lead at that stage; Paweł Wąsek followed in similar conditions but landed seven meters shorter, still enough to advance comfortably.

Jason Colby later pushed past Kot, and then Piotr Żyła—under scrutiny after weak trainings—calmed nerves with 124 m and sat third at the time. Gregor Deschwanden then posted 132.5 m to lead, and Stoch jumped 130.5 m in decent conditions to slot into second provisionally.

After strong efforts from Johann André Forfang and Naoki Nakamura beyond 130 m, the jury lowered the gate as the wind eased. Even so, Timi Zajc soared 135 m to take over. Poland’s team leader this season, Kacper Tomasiak, had 124 m—enough to ensure that all Poles were through.

There were notable surprises: home star Karl Geiger failed to qualify. Stefan Kraft was off his usual form with only 116.5 m for 33rd in qualifying, and Ren Nikaido was 31st with 117 m. At the top, Domen Prevc won qualifying with 139 m, followed by Philipp Raimund and Daniel Tschofenig.

Polish qualifying placements: - 14. Kamil Stoch - 19. Maciej Kot - 22. Piotr Żyła - 25. Kacper Tomasiak - 32. Paweł Wąsek

KO pairings involving Poles: - Kamil Stoch vs. Tomofumi Naito - Maciej Kot vs. Paweł Wąsek - Piotr Żyła vs. Artti Aigro - Kacper Tomasiak vs. Niko Kytösaho

The competition is scheduled for Monday at 16:30, with the trial round 90 minutes earlier.