Stefan Kraft beats local hero Robert Johansson
Mar 12, 2019·Ski Jumping
Austria's Stefan Kraft won the FIS Ski Jumping World Cup in Lillehammer (NOR) on Tuesday evening ahead of local hero Robert Johansson and Ryoyu Kobayashi of Japan (261.7 points).
With the longest jumps in both rounds (139 m and 141 m; 285.7 points), 25-year-old Stefan Kraft made things clear right from the start in Lillehammer. In changing, but fair and never dangerous conditions, Kraft impressively demonstrated, that three athletes will fight for the overall title of the Raw Air from now on.
"It was a lot of fun today. There was a really nice headwind and I like this hill a lot anyway", explained Kraft, who won the first edition of the Raw Air in the 2016/17 winter season. Besides Kraft, the current leader Robert Johansson and Ryoyu Kobayashi have the best chances to claim the Raw Air overall title.
The was the 16th World Cup win for Kraft, the fourth this season.
Local hero Robert Johansson confirmed his currently fantastic shape with the second place today. The 28-year-old posted jumps of 135 m and 138.5 m on his home hill. The man with the mustache finished on a strong second place but came in 12.7 points behind Kraft. That's a lot in the battle for the overall title of the Raw Air where every single point matters.
After the competition in Lillehammer, Johansson leads the Raw Air with 950.3 points, followed by Stefan Kraft (937.4 points) and Japanese Ryoyu Kobayashi (921.4 points).
Kobayashi was third in Lillehammer with jumps of 130 m and 137 m.
The fourth place today went to Kamil Stoch of Poland, ahead of Johann Andre Forfang (NOR) and Junshiro Kobayashi (JPN), who won the qualification in Lillehammer on Monday. Domen Prevc of Slovenia (7th), Poland's Dawid Kubacki (8th), Austria's Philipp Aschenwald (9th) and Swiss Killian Peier (10th) completed the Top 10.
There was not much to celebrate for the German team today. The best German athlete was Andreas Wellinger in 14th, Markus Eisenbichler was 15th, Karl Geiger 20th, and Stephan Leyhe 23rd. There will also not be a German Raw Air winner in the third year of the series, that's already clear after half of the 15 jumps. Johansson, Kraft, and Kobayashi are too strong and no German will be able to close the gap.
The teams travel from Lillehammer to Trondheim this evening per bus. The estimated time of arrival in Trondheim, 330 km northwest of Lillehammer, is 1:30 am CET.
The training and the qualification in Trondheim will take place tomorrow at 3:30 pm CET and 5:40 pm CET.
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