Constantin Schmid surprises with quali-win in Oslo
Mar 06, 2020·Ski Jumping
20-year-old Constantin Schmid of Germany surprisingly won the opener of the RAW AIR 2020 on Friday evening. Schmid took the win in the qualification for the individual competition on the Holmenkollen with 127.7 points just ahead of Austria's Michael Hayboeck (127.5 points) and Slovene Ziga Jelar (127.2 points).
In the arena on the Holmenkollen, which was closed to the public by the local authorities due to the corona-virus, Schmid also took the lead in the overall ranking of the RAW AIR. "It's practically impossible that I'll still wear this leader's bib next Sunday in the final event in Vikersund, there are various athletes in the field who can jump better than me, but I'm very happy about this success today", the surprised winner explained.
Schmid had already gained some attention with his fourth place in Lahti (FIN) last weekend and the third place in Rasnov. In Oslo Schmid took advantage of the good conditions during his jump and secured this unexpected win.
But the field is incredibly close after the first of the 16 jumps of the RAW AIR. Top favorite Stefan Kraft of Austria is sixth, only 1.8 points behind Schmid, Stephan Leyhe and Karl Geiger were 12th and 13th and are also only 4.1 resp. 4.5 points behind their teammate. Even Norway's Johann Andre Forfang lost only 6.5 points despite finishing only 21st. Local hero Robert Johansson and Poland's Piotr Zyla came in fourth and fifth and are within striking distance to the top.
It will be an exciting team event on Saturday, considering that the points the athletes score in their two jumps also count for the RAW AIR overall ranking. The team competition starts on Saturday at 3:15 pm CET.
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