Legends of ski jumping say goodbye: a dream comes to an end!

Wolfi Hostmann and Charly Leitner, two legendary presenters at the New Year's ski jumping in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, held their last moderations on January 1st, 2025. Hostmann, who has been in the business for almost 30 years, became known for introducing “Fi-naa-le, o-ho,” inspired by a background song. Together with Leitner, who started two years after Hostmann, they shaped commentating at major events and were the first commentator duo in this area.

After three decades, Hostmann would like to gradually retire from active business, but plans to be responsible for program planning for another year. His successor will be Sebastian “Wasti” Rasp, 46 years old. The well-rehearsed team in the ski stadium now consists of seven people and has experienced many important moments in ski jumping, including the challenge of Japanese jumpers on the podium in 1998. Hostmann began his career in the TSV Partenkirchen fishing competition and later took over the moderation in Garmisch-Partenkirchen.

New Year's jumps and favorites

The New Year's jumping in Garmisch-Partenkirchen is considered one of the most important events in the ski jumping World Cup. Halvor Egner Granerud from Norway dominated the test round and is considered one of the favorites. Karl Geiger, who also showed strong performances after winning the opening competition in Oberstdorf, is considered the top favorite for overall victory in the Four Hills Tournament. Markus Eisenbichler, third in qualification, is also one of the contenders for victory.

National coach Stefan Horngacher expressed his satisfaction with the performance of his protégés. A total of twelve German jumpers qualified for the New Year's competition. Other favorites are Kamil Stoch from Poland and Granerud, the current overall World Cup leader. Marius Lindvik had to miss the New Year's competition due to dental surgery. The practice session began at 12:30 p.m., followed by the competition at 2 p.m. Current information on this was provided by merkur.de and skijumping.com provided.