BISCHOFSHOFEN, Germany, Jan 6 (Reuters) - Slovenia's Domen Prevc won his first Golden Eagle trophy as overall winner of the Four Hills Tournament but had to settle for second place in the fourth and final leg won by last year's champion Austrian Daniel Tschofenig at Bischofshofen on Tuesday.
Prevc had won the first two stops at Oberstdorf and Garmisch before finishing runner-up to Japan's Ren Nikaido at Innsbruck on Sunday and was second best again on the final day. He emulates his brother Peter who won the Four Hills in 2016.
The Slovenian, with a jump of 138 metres, held a slender 0.8 points lead over Japan's Ryoyu Kobayashi after the first round with Tschofenig almost four points off the leader in third.
The Austrian overtook the Japanese jumper with a second-round leap of 140.5 and Prevc's final jump of 138.5 metres left him on 299.8 points with Tschofenig earning a total of 303.9, with Kobayashi rounding out the podium.
Defending champion Tschofenig handed over the trophy to Prevc, who also holds a commanding lead in the World Cup standings at the halfway point, 388 points ahead of Kobayashi in his bid for a first overall win.
"The final jump was not ideal, but the second place was more than enough for the Golden Eagle in the end," Prevc told TV Slovenia.
"To be honest, after the performance, the first thing I thought was that I could have done better in the final jump."
Prevc took the overall win 42.3 points ahead of Austria's Jan Horl with another Austrian, Stephan Embacher, taking third spot.
The 26-year-old Prevc will head to next month's Milano Cortina Winter Olympics as favourite and his sister Nika is dominating the women's event, with a second successive victory in Villach on Tuesday giving her a 100-point lead overall.
(Reporting by Trevor StynesEditing by Toby Davis)
