Dawid Kubacki wins qualification for 4-Hills final

Dawid Kubacki of Poland won the final qualification of the 66th 4-Hills-Tournament. The 27-year-old jumped on 136 m on the Paul-Ausserleitner-hill in Bischofshofen and scored 139.9 points. Norway's Johann Andre Forfang came in second, Simon Ammann surprised in third.

"The jump wasn't perfect, I'm sure the coach will find some mistakes. But it was a good jump and I'm happy with my performance on this training and qualification day. I will not let Kamil win tomorrow, we will be fighting until the end. I know that Kamil is strong and I know I'm strong as well", Dawid Kubacki explained his clear line for the competition on Saturday.

Behind Simon Ammann, Stefan Kraft of Austria came in fourth. "I'm very satisfied today, maybe the jump in the qualification was not aggressive enough. But I had a positive feeling and this is very good for now. I'm really looking forward to tomorrow. It's always nice to jump at home. Many friends and my family will be here tomorrow and this gives me additional motivation", said Stefan Kraft. Kraft was followed by 4-Hills leader Kamil Stoch of Poland, best German was Andreas Wellinger in eighth. He is fighting for the second place in the overall ranking. "I was a bit surprised yesterday when I saw that I'm second in the overall ranking. In the qualification, I was a bit early at the take-off. I have to improve that tomorrow, then I can jump a few meters farther. I'm looking forward to tomorrow, I like this hill and I'm looking forward to the competition. The position I'm in right now is not that bad", said Wellinger.

The main topic on the qualification day in Bischofshofen was obviously the possible Grand Slam of 4-Hills-Tournament overall leader Kamil Stoch. The Pole, who won in Oberstdorf, Garmisch-Partenkirchen, and Innsbruck came in fifth in the qualification and has the chance to win also the fourth competition on the 4-Hills-Tournament on Saturday. The jump was quite okay, but the timing was not that good, from the technical side it was okay. The training was quite okay for me, it was a good day. Tomorrow is another day, another challenge. I will try to jump well and we'll see what happens. I'm trying to be relaxed, Ski Jumping is what I love to do, so what more can I expect", said Stoch, who is attracting a huge interest from the media. In the overall ranking, Stoch has a lead of 64.5 points over Andreas Wellinger, and practically already secured the title. It's now exciting to see, whether he will be able to become the second athlete in history, after Sven Hannawald 2001/02, to win all four competitions in just one 4-Hills-Tournament.

Hannawald said about the chances of the Pole: "From my point of view, Kamil Stoch is extremely calm. His jumping technique is very stable and he knows that he is the one to beat and that this isn't easy to do. This makes him even stronger and self-confident enough to know that he can win all four competitions. Of course, I hope that I will remain the only one who could achieve that, but this doesn't mean that I want an athlete, who can do the same, to have bad jumps or bad conditions. I want to see a fair competition tomorrow and if Kamil can win it, then I will be the first to welcome him to the world's most exclusive club with only two members. We will see what happens on Saturday. There are many jumpers, who can get close to Kamil, like Andreas Wellinger, Markus Eisenbichler, Daniel Andre Tande or Johann Andre Forfang. They only have one problem, and that's Kamil Stoch."

The final event of the 66th 4-Hills-Tournament will start on Saturday at 5 pm CET (trial round at 3:30 pm CET). The weather forecast for the day is very good.