Stefan Kraft celebrates historic victory in Zakopane

Austria's Stefan Kraft continues to be in outstanding form.
At the Ski Jumping World Cup in the Polish ski jumping mecca of Zakopane, Kraft not only led the Austrian team to overall victory in the Poland-Tour with his victory on the day, Kraft also celebrated his 109th podium finish in the overall World Cup. 
A record for the ages.
The ski jumping weekend in Zakopane was all about Stefan Kraft. Victory in the team competition yesterday with the ÖSV eagles, victory today in the individual competition ahead of Andreas Wellinger and Anze Lanisek and, as the icing on the cake, success with his team at the premiere of the Poland Tour. 50,000 euros on top, so to speak.
Stefan Kraft: "I've heard that a lot now, 109. I didn't stay completely relaxed, I was a bit nervous. Despite the nervousness, it was another two really cool jumps. To be at the top of this list alone is something really special, something really nice. To consistently collect so many podiums over so many years is amazing. I'm a bit speechless."
Kraft overtook ski jumping legend Janne Ahonen from Finland with his success. Ahonen had collected 108 podium places in the course of his career, including 36 victories. With his 37th success today, Kraft has also overtaken the Finn in terms of the number of victories.

Andreas Wellinger was delighted with second place in the day's ranking: "It was perfect today, the atmosphere was great as always and I also like the hill. I was able to make up a few places in the second round, it went really well and I'm very happy. The Poland Tour is an interesting format, it's a shame that the competition in Szczyrk was canceled, but this tour is still interesting and challenging because there are three hills in one week and you always have to adapt to them.
And now we will prepare for the World Championships at Kulm. I'm really looking forward to ski flying, it's always one of the best events," said Wellinger, looking ahead to next weekend's World Ski Flying Championships at Kulm (AUT).

Behind Kraft and Wellinger, Slovenia's Anze Lanisek once again proved his strong shape this winter with third place.

Michael Hayboeck, Jan Hoerl and Manuel Fettner in fourth, sixth and seventh place ensured jubilation in the Austrian team and at the same time a clear role as favorites at the Ski Flying World Championships next weekend.
Ryoyu Kobayashi finished in 5th place, while 8th, 9th and 10th place went to Norway's Johann Andre Forfang, Lovro Kos and Ren Nikaido.
Local hero Aleksander Zniszczol dropped back from 4th place after the first run to 11th, followed by team-mate Dawid Kubacki in 12th place.

Stefan Kraft (1089 points) continues to lead the overall World Cup ahead of Andreas Wellinger (837) and Ryoyu Kobayashi (736)
The next stop is Kulm in Austria, from Thursday. The Ski Flying World Championships will take place there from Thursday to Sunday.