Stefan Kraft confirms role as favorite with quali-win in Oberstdorf
Dec 28, 2019·Ski Jumping
The first qualification of the 68th 4-Hills-Tournament was held in unexpectedly difficult wind conditions on Saturday in Oberstdorf. In the beginning, the qualification round was interrupted various times due to the strong wind, but in the end, it was fair and on a high level.
Today's winner Stefan Kraft of Austria (136 m; 152.2 points) was expected to be among the very best, but behind him, some athletes surprised with their top results. Junshiro Kobayashi (Ryoyu's older brother) did great in training and the qualification on the Schattenberg-hill and came in second in today's qualification round, his brother Ryoyu was fourth.
Strong German team
After a mediocre winter so far, the German ski jumpers presented themselves in an extremely strong shape: Stephan Leyhe (3rd), Markus Eisenbichler (5th) and Karl Geiger (6th), who is one of the top favorites, enthused the 15 500 fans.
Norway's Marius Lindvik in seventh and Domen Prevc of Slovenia in eighth also provided surprises.
Austrian Gregor Schlierenzauer needed some luck to make the cut for the competition. He finished only 50th and benefited from the disqualification of Swiss Gregor Deschwanden, due to a breach of the rules at the start.
Some top athletes became victims of the high level in the qualification and so Daniel Huber (55th) and Richard Freitag (60th) failed to qualify.
The first competition of the 68th 4-Hills-Tournament in Oberstdorf starts on Sunday at 5:30 pm CET.
Here's what the athletes had to say after the qualification in Oberstdorf:
Andreas Wellinger: I'm feeling good, it's a new situation and a new task for me. I have to start from zero again and build up the muscles. This is extremely hard work. Of course, it sucks that I can only be a spectator here, but I can also learn a lot for the future. I'll take the time that I need to recover so I can compete here again next year. I think that Karl Geiger is one of the top favorites and I think he is capable of showing this here in front of his home crowd.
Martin Hamann: You know pretty soon after the take-off, that it is a good jump. The second jump in training and the one in the qualification were quite similar, I think this one was a bit better. It's a lot of fun to jump in front of so many people here, that's different than usually in the Continental Cup.
Simon Ammann: I would prefer it if it would be easy. But at my age you have to qualify first, it's not that easy anymore to make the cut. The tasks ahead of me are not small, but I was able to somewhat limit the scope, choosing the suit, the skis, what I have to do technically. I'm definitely impressed by the atmosphere here, but the work I have to do on the hill is demanding. Fortunately, it worked well in the qualification.
Markus Eisenbichler: I always enjoy coming here, I know this hill by heart and my experiences here last year were also very positive. Now I tried to focus on the tasks ahead and that went well. I'm pretty relaxed and I'm feeling extremely well. I made some changes and I already knew on the 23rd, that it works. When you are at the start with a positive feeling you can tell that the hill likes you and you are not jumping against the hill.
Stephan Leyhe: The training and the qualification went well today, it was a good start. I had solid jumps and I'm definitely satisfied with that. Last year I was third overall, so of course, the expectations are higher this time. But I'll try to see each competition individually and just give my all. If I'm in the Top 10 again in every competition I'll be totally satisfied.
Kamil Stoch: In sports, and especially in Ski Jumping, everything can happen.. I'm not thinking about who can win and who can lose, I'm just doing my job. But in my opinion, everything is possible.
Ryoyu Kobayashi: Out of the three jumps today, the last one was my best and so I have a positive feeling for tomorrow's competition. It's great that so many fans came today for the qualification, which makes it a lot of fun to jump here.
Karl Geiger: My jumps were really nice, I'm very satisfied and it was a lot of fun today. It's a good feeling to be among the favorites because it means that the last couple of weeks were not that bad. But I haven't won yet, there were always others ahead who did a really good job. I just want to attack here and then we'll see.
Stefan Kraft: The second training jump and the one in the qualification were really good and on a high level. I would like to have such jumps tomorrow again. I always enjoy being in Oberstdorf. Ryoyu Kobayashi and Karl Geiger also did really well today. I think that many jumpers will fight for the win tomorrow, I'm one of them and that's important.
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