Stefan Kraft claims quali-win on his home hill in Bischofshofen
Jan 05, 2020·Ski Jumping
Austria's Stefan Kraft won the final qualification of the 68th 4-Hills-Tournament. Kraft jumped on 134.5 m on Sunday on the Paul-Ausserleitner-hill in Bischofshofen and scored 150.8 points. He came in ahead of Japan's Daiki Ito (138 m; 150.7 points) and Kamil Stoch of Poland.
The two Germans Constantin Schmid and birthday boy Stephan Leyhe showed strong performances and finished fourth and fifth.
Besides the win and the top ranks, especially the jumps of the four athletes, who still have a chance to win the overall title, were of interest today.
Best of them was Ryoyu Kobayashi in sixth, Norway's Marius Lindvik was ninth, 4-Hills leader Dawid Kubacki was 13th and Karl Geiger 16th.
Dawid Kubacki said after his jump: "The jumps were okay, but not perfect. Maybe the legs are a bit tired after the long day yesterday. Now I have to relax and then focus on what I have to do tomorrow. Because of all my work over the past years, I know how to behave in such situations."
What's obvious after today's qualification is that it will be an extremely exciting final of the 4-Hills-Tournament on Monday. The fans and the four jumpers, who still have a realistic chance to claim the overall title, will experience a real nail-biter, the final event will be as exciting as it can be.
The final competition of the 68th 4-Hills-Tournament starts on Sunday at 5:15 pm CET.
Gregor Schlierenzauer: It was a positive day for me because I could improve my performance from one jump to the next. That was the main goal. It was solid, but I also feel that there's still room for improvement and I hope I can show that tomorrow. I'm not at the end of my way yet and I enjoy it. I will keep on working.
Stephan Leyhe: I don't know yet, whether I made myself a birthday present with this jump. It depends on who will be my opponent tomorrow. It was a good jump, I simply enjoy jumping on this hill. That's why I'm very satisfied with today.
Constantin Schmid: The 139 m now were definitely my farthest jump in a competition round on this hill. It was a nice jump and I really enjoyed it. I'm satisfied. I've trained here often and so I know this hill pretty well.
Dawid Kubacki: The jumps were okay, but not perfect. Maybe the legs are a bit tired after the long day yesterday. Now I have to relax and then focus on what I have to do tomorrow. Because of all my work over the past years, I know how to behave in such situations.
Karl Geiger: It was not that great today, I think I was quite early at the take-off in every jump. But it was okay for a warm-up, tomorrow is when it counts. Not much will be happening this evening, some stretching, some physical therapy and then get a good night's sleep.
Stefan Kraft: It's always special to jump at home. I have never won a qualification here so far, this was a great rehearsal in front of the home crowd. I'm looking forward to tomorrow. Tomorrow is a new day, it was very close today, many athletes could have won the qualification.
Stefan Horngacher (Coach GER): It was not a perfect day for Karl. We will analyze the video tonight and then I'll improve tomorrow so he can show longer jumps. I really don't care how Kobayashi and Kubacki performed today. I'm glad that Constantin Schmid jumped well, that Stephan Leyhe jumped well and that Markus Eisenbichler also had better jumps again.
)
