Ryoyu Kobayashi wins qualification in Engelberg
Dec 14, 2018·Ski Jumping
The 22-year-old Japanese Ryoyu Kobayashi won the first qualification in Engelberg on Friday evening. Kobayashi jumped on 137 m (134.4 points) and came in ahead of Austria's Stefan Kraft (124.5 m / 132.9 points) and Norway's Robert Johansson (135 m / 131.4 points).
Ryoyu Kobayashi proved his currently outstanding position among the world's best ski jumpers. With the final jump of the qualification round, Kobayashi took the win ahead of Stefan Kraft of Austria. In temperatures below zero and slight snowfall, Kobayashi proved that he can jump really strong on the Titlis-hill in Engelberg. One of two training jumps as enough for Kobayashi, he had the longest jump, skipped the second training round and won the qualification. That's the style of a champion.
With Stefan Kraft and Robert Johansson, two athletes finished right behind Kobayashi, who always have to be considered contenders for the podium. Kamil Stoch was fourth, followed by Karl Geiger and Slovenia's Peter Prevc, who had a strong comeback after his break due to an ankle injury.
Russia's Evgeniy Klimov also finished in the Top 10 in ninth.
There were no big surprises in this qualification in Engelberg, all the top athletes made the cut for the competition, which starts on Saturday at 4 pm CET.
)
