Six competitions, six wins. Clemens Aigner completed a perfect summer Continental Cup campaign at the finale in Klingenthal, winning on both Saturday and Sunday at the Vogtland Arena to take every event of the 2026 series. Afterwards the 33-year-old Austrian revealed that his career had twice nearly ended.
Beating World Cup names on the second tier
The Tyrolean had to earn it in Klingenthal, where several World Cup regulars joined the field. On Saturday he led after the first round with 132 metres. Slovenia's Domen Prevc climbed to second with the day's longest jump of 141.5 metres in the final round, but Aigner answered with 135.5 metres and won by 11.1 points. Poland's Jakub Wolny finished third. That fifth straight victory already sealed the overall title.
Sunday was tighter. Aigner's jumps of 142 and 137.5 metres gave him victory by just 0.7 points over Prevc's compatriot Anže Lanišek. Raffael Zimmermann completed a second Austrian podium in third, having landed at 145 metres in the first round, only 1.5 metres short of the hill record. Germany's best were Luca Roth and Ben Bayer in eighth and ninth.
Aigner closed the summer with the maximum 600 points, far ahead of Zimmermann on 344 and fellow Austrian Haagen on 279, with Bayer the top German in fourth. His dominance also earned Austria an additional World Cup quota place, which Aigner is expected to fill himself this winter.
"One step away" from quitting
What makes the run remarkable is how close it came to never happening. In an interview with Polish website Skijumping.pl, Aigner said that in both 2021 and 2025 he was essentially one step away from deciding to retire. Each time he weighed up the pros and cons and set the idea aside.
Ski JumpingRaimund edges Wellinger for German title, Reisch wins women's crown"I still feel that fire inside me. I want to belong among the best. A successful jump is one of the best feelings in the world that I know," he told the site. Over the summer he concentrated mainly on the flight phase, where he saw the biggest reserves, aiming to make his style more efficient.
A Continental Cup veteran with a World Cup chance
Aigner has long been a fixture at the top of the Continental Cup, with 39 wins and 73 podiums across summer and winter editions, according to Skijumping.pl. In the World Cup, however, the depth of the Austrian squad has limited him to irregular appearances. His best overall ranking was 29th in 2022/23, and he has stood on five World Cup team podiums.
The father of two is not setting himself specific targets for the winter. "I want to produce good, long jumps and show what I'm capable of," he said. With the quota place he won this summer, he now has a guaranteed platform to do exactly that.
