Domen Prevc and Ryoyu Kobayashi jubilate after Ski Flying nail-biter
Mar 17, 2019·Ski Jumping
The final event of the third Raw Air on Sunday in Vikersund (NOR) was not for the faint-hearted. First, Japan's Ryoyu Kobayashi took the overall lead from Austria's Stefan Kraft with his last jump, then Domen Prevc of Slovenia claimed the win on the Monsterbakken in Vikersund with a lead of only 0.1 points over Kobayashi. Stefan Kraft was third today, Robert Johansson came in third in the overall ranking of the Raw Air.
"This is tough. Being 2.9 points behind the winner after 15 jumps hurt because it would have been possible to win. But honestly, when Kobayashi jumps like this, then he deserves it. Hats off to him, everything was fair. The second place is also a great result. I had good jumps here, but unfortunately, I didn't have a really great one", explained Kraft, who already seemed like the winner of the Raw Air. Kraft jumped on 229.5 m in the second round on Sunday, Kobayashi then had an amazing jump of 239 m and claimed the overall title 2.9 points ahead of Kraft.
This was already the fourth title this winter for 22-year-old Kobayashi. He already clinched the overall World Cup title, in addition, the Japanese won the 4-Hills-Tournament, the Willingen 5 and now the Raw Air. Ryoyu Kobayashi won 12 World Cups this season. "I could show some really long jumps today and I had a lot of fun at the hill. I'm very high in the air, so it's difficult to land in a telemark but I tried my best to make great jumps in the competition", said Kobayashi.
Besides Raw Air winner Kobayashi, Slovenia's Domen Prevc was the man of the day. Prevc, who won four World Cups in 2016, took his fifth World Cup win today. "I didn't expect anything when the Raw Air started, I just wanted to have fun and enjoy Norway. That's it. I will enjoy Planica next weekend too, but I really don't expect anything else than having fun", said Prevc, who already showed an outstanding performance in Saturday's team competition.
The fourth place today surprisingly went to Poland's Jakub Wolny, Markus Eisenbichler jumped on 230 m in the final and came in fifth in this competition, fourth in the Raw Air overall ranking.
In the Ski Flying World Cup, Eisenbichler (211 points) is currently second behind Ryoyu Kobayashi (227 points). Next weekend in Planica, Eisenbichler has a realistic chance to win the small crystal bowl for the world's best ski flyer.
The eighth place today and the 6th place in the Raw Air went to Simon Ammann of Switzerland. With his strong performances in the Ski Flying event in Vikersund, Ammann secured his best results in a while.
Next weekend, three competitions (Friday: Individual, Saturday: Team; Sunday: Individual) will be held in Planica (SLO), then the 2018/19 season is history for the ski jumpers.
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