Convincing performance by Team Poland in Klingenthal
Dec 14, 2019·Ski Jumping
The ski jumpers of Poland got back on track to success at the World Cup in Klingenthal. In the team event in the Vogtland-Arena, Piotr Zyla, Jakub Wolny, Kamil Stoch and Dawid Kubacki claimed a convincing victory (968.7 points) ahead of Austria and Japan.
The Polish athletes presented themselves in a strong shape and had a clear lead of 25 points over Austria and of more than 50 points over Japan. "The conditions were quite difficult today, the wind was changing a lot and you definitely needed to have some luck. But it was a really great competition for us with the win. My shape is currently pretty good and hopefully, I'll be able to show my best jumps later during the course of this winter", Kamil Stoch explained after the competition. For Poland this was the seventh win in a World Cup team event, they also won the most recent team World Cup in Klingenthal in 2016. In the first team competition this winter in Wisla (POL), the team of head coach Michal Dolezal was third.
Philipp Aschenwald, Gregor Schlierenzauer, Michael Hayboeck, and Stefan Kraft secured the second place for Austria. The Austrians were the only team that could challenge Poland on Saturday in Klingenthal. "The conditions were difficult and changing, so it's not never sure that you'll be on the podium. That's why we are very happy about today's result. For me personally, there's still some room for improvement, but I know what I have to work on and so I think I'm on the right track", said Gregor Schlierenzauer, who is, step by step, on his way back to the top.
The third place today went to the team of Japan, lead by an extremely strong Ryoyu Kobayashi. As of now, Ryoyu Kobayashi is back among the top contenders. Last season's overall World Cup winner is not making the mistakes anymore that he was struggling with at the beginning of the season. "The conditions were quite difficult today. I'm happy that I was still able to show two good jumps. Our team is strong, we are training well and hard and we try to improve constantly. I will continue working so that I can make more good jumps during the course of this winter and finish on the podium again", said Kobayashi.
The Norwegian team, on which Daniel Andre Tande was replaced by Johann Andre Forfang because the ankle injury he sustained yesterday didn't heal well enough, came in fourth. Tande now hopes to compete on Sunday in order to defend his Yellow Bib.
The team of Slovenia was fifth, the German team of head coach Stefan Horngacher finished sixth and still has a lot of work to do. Karl Geiger was the only one of the team who could present himself in a strong shape. Markus Eisenbichler, Constantin Schmid and Richard Freitag are not in their best form. Germany was over 150 points behind the winner, a brutal defeat, that can't be sugarcoated.
Sunday's individual competition in Klingenthal starts at 4 pm CET. The top favorites are Ryoyu Kobayashi, Stefan Kraft, Karl Geiger, Philipp Aschenwald, and Dawid Kubacki.
