Innsbruck: Marius Lindvik on top again
Jan 03, 2020·Ski Jumping
Norway's Marius Lindvik won the qualification for the third competition of the 68th 4-Hills-Tournament in Innsbruck on Friday afternoon. Lindvik posted a jump of 131.5 m (138.9 points) and came in ahead of Austria's Stefan Kraft (132.5 m; 136.8 points). Karl Geiger of Germany (131.5 m; 134.9 points) and Austrian Philipp Aschenwald (131 m; 134.9 points) tied for third.
The 68th 4-Hills-Tournament remains exciting, that became obvious in the qualification of Innsbruck. With his win today, Marius Lindvik, who won the competition in Garmisch-Partenkirchen two days ago, is now among the top contenders for the overall title.
4-Hills leader Ryoyu Kobayashi came in fifth today, 4.9 points behind Lindvik - after only one jump.
In the overall ranking, Ryoyu Kobayashi currently leads with 587.2 points, followed by Karl Geiger (6.3 points behind), Dawid Kubacki (8.5 points behind) and Marius Lindvik (18.9 points behind). "I hope I can close the gap in the overall ranking, but I also don't want to look too far ahead", Lindvik said after his jump.
Karl Geiger, second in the 4-Hills-Tournament, was also strong on the third hill of this year's Tour and finished two places ahead of Kobayashi, but Geiger also lost four points compared to the Norwegian youngster. "It's not important that I was ahead of Kobayashi and Kubacki today, what counts is the competition tomorrow", Geiger explained after the qualification.
Poland's Dawid Kubacki (third in the 4-Hills ranking) scored only one point less than Geiger and 0.1 points less than Kobayashi. He was sixth today.
It's extremely close between the top athletes, tomorrow's competition and the battle for the overall title of the 4-Hills-Tournament will definitely be extremely exciting.
Besides Karl Geiger, his teammates Stephan Leyhe (10th), Markus Eisenbichler (12th) and Constantin Schmid (15th) also showed strong performances.
Prevc, Prevc, and Prevc in the competition
It was also a good day for the team of Slovenia. All three of the Prevc brothers, Peter, Domen, and Cene (Cene Prevc replaces Tilen Bartol on the Slovenian team) made the cut for the competition, just like the strong Timi Zajc (7th), Anze Lanisek (30th) and Rok Justin (37th).
The competition on the Bergisel-hill starts on Sunday at 2 pm CET, the organizers expect over 20 000 fans in the stadium in Innsbruck.
Here's what the ski jumpers had to say after the qualification in Innsbruck:
Marius Lindvik: I'm very happy about my jump today and hopefully I can repeat this tomorrow. Now I just want to relax, when I have the time, and then get a good night's sleep. I hope, I can close the gap to the best in the overall ranking, but I don't want to look too far ahead.
Daniel Huber: Once again, it was close. It's good that there is wind compensation, but I often don't understand how the corridor is set. But with a good jump, I would still be in the Top 20. It doesn't matter who is my opponent in the K.O. round, I just have to focus on myself. Actually, I felt good today, that's why I don't really know what happened in the qualification.
Markus Eisenbichler: The jump now was okay. In the second training round, I just had really bad conditions, but that doesn't bother me now. I know that I'm in a pretty good shape again. I know what I have to do and I'm on the right track.
Karl Geiger: At first I was struggling with the rhythm of the hill, the third jump now was really good. It's not important that I was ahead of Kobayashi and Kubacki today. What counts is the competition tomorrow.
Stefan Kraft: I'm very satisfied with the jump, it was really good. I know that I'm in a very good shape and physically I have more energy again. Today I felt very good on the hill. The home event on the Bergisel is almost the highlight of the season, I'm really looking forward to it.
Philipp Aschenwald: The jump in the qualification was my best today, I didn't let the conditions bother me. But a good qualification doesn't mean a thing, I have to remain calm. Now I want to jump like that tomorrow again.
Jan Hoerl: The jump was very good, I needed the training today and I also had some luck with the wind again. Now we'll see what's possible tomorrow. Today I'm satisfied and I'm looking forward to tomorrow's competition. I don't focus on the result, I just want to show good jumps.
Andreas Felder (Coach AUT): It's not so easy to qualify here, especially for the young jumpers. I'm glad some of them made it and also that our established athletes are among the best again. There's not that much pressure anymore with regard to the overall ranking, but they just have to try to give their best in the competition.
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