By Paul Osborne

Stefan Kraft won the Four Hills Tournament after finishing third in the final leg ©FISStefan Kraft has won the International Ski Federation's (FIS) Four Hills Tournament after finishing third in the fourth and final leg in Bischofshofen, Austria.

The Austrian extended his nation's hold on the prestigious title to seven years after jumping 133.5 metres and 132m for a total of 271.3 points.

The result gave the 21-year-old his third podium of the tournament following victory in Oberstdorf and silver in Innsbruck.

He finished six points ahead of team mate Michael Hayboeck, who finished top of the podium in the event.

Hayboeck was 23 points behind Kraft coming into the final leg but jumps of 137.5m and 136.5m for 288.4 points severely cut this lead.

"I was extremely nervous," said Kraft.

"I knew that I could win here and get the golden Eagle.

"My second jump was pretty good and I knew that Michael would have to jump extremely well.

"Now I'm really looking forward to the victory ceremony."

Michael Hayboeck extended his lead atop the FIS World Cup leaderboard as he missed out on the Four Hills title by just six points ©FISMichael Hayboeck extended his lead atop the FIS World Cup leaderboard as he missed out on the Four Hills title by just six points ©FIS


Despite missing out on the Four Hill crown, Hayboeck's score extended his lead atop the overall FIS World Cup rankings to 71, with Kraft sitting in second.

It was also his first World Cup victory of his career.

"Honestly I didn't think that I could win the overall, Stefan was too strong," said Hayboeck.

"I couldn't have wished for a better place to win my first World Cup."

Japan's Noriaki Kasai secured second in today's competition after 132.5m and 137m, however, his score was not enough to knock Slovenia's Peter Prevc out of third in the overall Four Hills leaderboard.

"At the end I'm third and I'm very happy about it, even if I had the chance to win the overall title a few days ago," said Prevc.

"I'm 22-years old now, I can still achieve a lot, even if the winner is even younger than me."

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