The high flyer of the season had to give way to the German Andreas Wellinger and Ryoyu Kobayashi from Japan in the opening competition of the 72nd Four Hills Tournament in Oberstdorf. With tricky tailwind conditions, the Salzburg native finished with distances of 132.5 and 125 meters, 10.4 points behind Wellinger (139.5/128), who celebrated a much-celebrated home victory in front of 25,500 fans.
As a team, the ÖSV jumpers, who were initially top placed, did not see themselves favored by the wind in the decision. With Jan Hörl (8th), Michael Hayböck (10th) and Manuel Fettner (13th), three Austrians ended up in the top 15, after four were in the top eight at halftime. Clemens Aigner ranked directly ahead of Daniel Tschofenig in 19th place. In the predicted national match between Austria and Germany, the hosts of the first ski jump spectacle made it 1-0.
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Kraft could “definitely” live with his 106th World Cup podium. “I’m super happy about third place. They were both very difficult to beat today,” said Kraft, who didn’t have perfect jumps on the Schattenbergschanze. “There was no bomb jump, but the level was very good,” emphasized the 30-year-old. In the second round he was a shade too late at the take-off table and in the first round he was a bit too tense. “Nevertheless, I’m very happy. I’m fully involved and I’m leaving there super happy.”
Bild: GEPA pictures/ Thomas Bachun (GEPA pictures)
The 2014/15 triumphant still wants to fight his New Year’s curse in Garmisch-Partenkirchen with a lot of self-confidence. “I would still like to have a certain amount of looseness, but I believe that it will come from jump to jump,” said Kraft, who also secured the last Austrian podium in Oberstdorf in 2018 when he came third.
Wellinger enjoyed triumph
Wellinger, winner of the qualification, enjoyed his triumph to the fullest in the sea of black, red and gold flags. “It was a lot of fun. The emotions are incredibly high and beautiful,” said the 28-year-old after his sixth World Cup victory and the first on the tour. Kraft was happy for his challenger. “It was almost like being in a football stadium or a disco with 26,000 people. It would have almost hurt if I had crashed the party there. I’m very empathetic,” said Kraft and laughed.
ÖSV head coach Andreas Widhölzl spoke of a mission accomplished. “The jumps were okay, not very good, it’s fine for once,” said the Tyrolean and predicted: “It will be a hot fight.” Mario Stecher could also live with the result. “Of course we knew that it would be a real cauldron in front of these fantastic fans. Maybe a little bit of luck was missing, but it will come back,” said the sports director of the ski jumpers in the ÖSV.
The field of candidates has been significantly reduced
The field of contenders for the tour victory has already reduced significantly after just one quarter. Last year’s Norwegian winner Halvor Egner Granerud was able to write off his successful title defense after just a jump of 105.5 m. Other previous winners, such as Poland’s Kamil Stoch (17th) and Dawid Kubacki (27th), also opened up a significant gap.
Kraft traveled to Oberstdorf with five World Cup victories in eight competitions this season. Most recently, it was time to take it easy because of back problems, and the seventh-placed qualifying competitor wanted to “release the handbrake” again in the opening competition. And despite the treacherous tailwind, he kept his word. Although Wellinger initially jumped the day’s maximum distance (139.5) with better wind and hatch advantage, seven meters further than Kraft. But in third place he was within striking distance behind Kobayashi thanks to the wind and gate points. In the final, Wellinger successfully defended his lead.
