WSC: Two Germans ahead in the qualification
Feb 22, 2019·Ski Jumping
The Nordic World Ski Championships 2019 couldn't have started any better for the German ski jumpers. Markus Eisenbichler won the qualification for the individual event on the large hill on Friday afternoon on the Bergisel-hill in Innsbruck. Eisenbichler posted a jump of 128.5 m (142.2 points) and took the win ahead of his teammate Karl Geiger (131 m; 141.1 points) and Kilian Peier of Switzerland (127.5 m; 137.5 points).
With this 1-2 finish on the infamous Bergisel in Innsbruck, the German team of head coach Werner Schuster had a great start into the WSC and with Eisenbichler and Geiger two of them will fight for the top positions in the first competition of the World Championships 2019.
Kilian Peier confirmed his great performance in Wednesday's training with the third place today. Peier now has to be considered a contender for the medals on Saturday.
Japan's Ryoyu Kobayashi will also play an important role in tomorrow's event. This winter's highflyer was fourth today with a jump of 126 m. Kobayashi was followed by two Austrians: Michael Hayboeck and Philipp Aschenwald surprisingly came in ahead of their teammate Stefan Kraft, who finished tenth.
Kamil Stoch was the best Pole in 11th.
11 athletes failed to make the cut for the competition.
The day on the Bergisel started with a dangerous situation for former ski jumper Martin Schmitt, before the first ski jumper even sat on the bar. A Nordic Combined athlete crashed and one of his skis was out of control after the crash and got dangerously close to Martin Schmitt, who is now an expert for the TV station Eurosport. A safety net, which was installed to prevent situations like that, proved to be insufficient.
The net was then replaced and now there shall not be dangerous situations like this for the journalists anymore.
The individual competition on the Bergisel-hill starts on Saturday at 2:30 pm CET.
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