Best training jumps by Eisenbichler and Kobayashi
Feb 21, 2019·Ski Jumping
12° Celsius, bright sunshine, perfect Ski Jumping conditions. You don't expect these conditions on February 21st during Nordic WSC and the athletes were in good spirits on the second training day of the ski jumpers on the Bergisel-hill in Innsbruck in springlike conditions.
Two training rounds were held today and the favorites for Saturday's individual competition became clear in today's session.
With Ryoyu Kobayashi of Japan and local hero Stefan Kraft, two of this winter's top athletes presented themselves strong today. So no real surprises, after Poland's Kamil Stoch and Kilian Peier of Switzerland proved their ambitions with strong performances yesterday. Stoch (like his teammates Kubacki, Zyla, and Wolny) and Peier skipped today's training after their good jumps on the first day.
The German athletes were also satisfied: "The feeling on the hill is good, there are some details that I'm still working on and I think that I can improve until the competition on Saturday. I'm looking forward to the first competition of the WSC and I'll just try to show good jumps. Then we'll see what happens", said Markus Eisenbichler, who was the best of his team. Markus Eisenbichler, Andreas Wellinger, Karl Geiger and Richard Freitag will represent Germany in Saturday's competition. Stephan Leyhe couldn't secure a spot on the team.
The Norwegians showed a strong team performance as well. With Johann Andre Forfang, Robert Johansson and Thomas Aasen Markeng, who recovered well from his spectacular crash yesterday, three of them were among the best today. After his crash in Lahti, Andreas Stjernen is also getting in a good shape again.
The Austrians, who skipped yesterday's training, were also fighting for the 4 remaining spots on the team. "We will decide after the training, who will not get to compete on Saturday", head coach Andreas Felder said before the two training rounds. After today's session, Philipp Aschenwald, Manuel Fettner, Michael Hayboeck, Daniel Huber and Stefan Kraft were named to the Austrian team. Austria is the only nation with five quota spots as Stefan Kraft is the defending champion. Youngster Jan Hoerl didn't make the team.
The qualification for Saturday's competition will take place on Friday at 2:30 pm CET. The large hill competition on the Bergisel is scheduled for Saturday, 2:30 pm CET. This will be the first of six medal events for the ski jumpers of the Nordic Ski World Championships in Seefeld 2019.
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