BISCHOFSHOFEN, Austria (Kyodo) -- World Cup ski jumping's Four Hills Tournament concluded Monday with last season's champion Ryoyu Kobayashi of Japan placing 15th overall, having been unable to get his title defense off the ground at any stage of the prestigious competition.

The 2022 Olympic men's normal hill gold medalist finished 24th in the fourth and last event in Bischofshofen, Austria, after jumps of 134.0 and 126.0 meters.

Daniel Tschofenig won the finale and took his first career Four Hills crown with a total of 1,194.4 points in front of his home fans. Tschofenig and Austrian compatriot Stefan Kraft each won two of the four events.

Ren Nikaido was Japan's top performer in Bischofshofen, placing 10th.

Kobayashi opened the tournament with an 18th-place outing in Oberstdorf, Germany, on Dec. 29 before only managing 28th and 20th at the next two stops.

"Sometimes things like this happen," Kobayashi said of his disappointing results. "I wish I could clear my mind a little bit."

The 28-year-old jumper placed eighth after the first round of the finale but was unable to move up on the leaderboard as the timing of his take-off turned out to be too late in the second.

Regarding his approach run, Kobayashi said, "I've been struggling with that for a long time, and the very last one turned out badly."