Coach Stefan Horngacher said on Saturday at the World Cup event in Ebgelberg that “Severin will definitely not compete” at the Four Hills, adding that “he is in training and can control his back problems” but “needs time.”

Freund, 31, who won Olympic team gold in 2014 and two world titles the following year, is yet to compete this year.

He has in fact hardly competed since January 2017, suffering two cruciate ligament tears in his knee, undergoing meniscus surgery and plagued by back problems.