Piotr Zyla takes normal hill gold

Piotr Zyla is the new World Champion on the normal hill. The victory of the Pole in Oberstdorf is a surprise, but it's not sensational. In training and especially in the trial round, Zyla had shown that he has to be reckoned with. Karl Geiger and Anze Lanisek came in second and third behind Piotr Zyla.

Nobody shows his joy as intense as Piotr Zyla. The man who has won two World Cups so far celebrated his title extensively together with his teammates in the outrun. "I felt great the whole day and I realized that I have lots of energy today. I had a super feeling right from the start and knew that I can achieve something special today", said the 34-year-old Polish crowd favorite.

Behind Zyla, local hero Karl Geiger once again showed his great skills at a major event. After a mediocre winter, during which the Ski Flying World Championship title in December was the highlight so far, he finished second today. With this medal, Geiger proved his extreme versatility. "I didn't expect this result, I had to very good jumps. Right now I'm incredibly proud and overwhelmed by this second place", said Geiger after his success on his home hill.

The third place went to Slovenia's Anze Lanisek, who was the only one of the top favorites to stand on the podium today. 
Top contender Halvor Egner Granerud was already defeated after he was only 16th in the first round. In the end, Granerud was able to move up to fourth with a spectacular jump in the final round, but the overall World Cup leader missed the podium by 1.8 points. Defending champion Dawid Kubacki was fifth, Michael Hayboeck was the best Austrian in seventh, Stefan Kraft came in tenth.

Markus Eisenbichler was 17th and very happy about the second place of his teammate Karl Geiger: "I'm extremely happy that Karl won a medal. I didn't expect that, but it went really well for Karl today. Unfortunately, that was not the case for me. It didn't go well already in the first round, I didn't have the best conditions and then you are behind already, it makes it tough. In the second round, I attacked, but it didn't work", Eisenbichler summed up his competition.
Simon Ammann was 20th, the second Swiss jumper in the final, Gregor Deschwanden, was 24th on his 30th birthday.

The next competition in Oberstdorf is the mixed team event on Saturday at 5 pm CET.

Full results