ski jumping
ÖSV star Stefan Kraft achieved his second podium finish in the third World Cup competition this winter. The man from Salzburg narrowly missed his debut win in Ruka on Saturday, finishing second behind Slovenia’s Anze Lanisek. With two other jumpers in the top ten, the Austrians also showed a strong team performance and took the lead in the Nations Cup ahead of Norway.
Last year’s winner Lanisek won following his hill record of 149 meters in the first round by a total of 1.3 points ahead of Kraft, who, however, made it onto the podium for the first time at the freshly snowed-in Finnish venue. “The second jump was really cool. Over 140 meters is really fun, but Anze mightn’t be beat,” said the world champion in an ORF interview following his maximum distance of 144 meters in the final. “I like the hill and have been fourth four times. Now I don’t think there is a hill where I wasn’t on the podium. That makes me proud.”
Third place was clearly behind Kraft for Poland’s Piotr Zyla ahead of his compatriot and Wisla double winner Dawid Kubacki, who maintained the overall lead. ÖSV veteran Manuel Fettner finished fifth and confirmed his strong form. “I’m very satisfied, I even liked the second jump better than the first,” said the 37-year-old. Michael Hayböck made up three positions and finished tenth, completing another good team performance by the Austrians. “It’s really good to have written to them,” said the 31-year-old.
Fettner jumps to fifth place
With two strong jumps and fifth place, ÖSV veteran Manuel Fettner confirmed his outstanding performance
Tschofenig fails in the decision
Things didn’t go perfectly for Daniel Tschofenig, who was still the third-best Austrian in seventh place behind Kraft and Fettner in the first round, but fell back to twelfth place in the decision. Jan Hörl and Philipp Aschenwald did not make it to the final at all, coming in 31st and 33rd respectively in the first round. Francisco Mörth had already failed in qualifying. The Norwegian Halvor Egner Granerud, who was originally fifth-placed ex aequo with Fettner, was disqualified following the second jump because of an illegal suit. Another competition will follow in Ruka on Sunday (9 a.m., live on ORF1).
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