Stefan Kraft wins qualification in Klingenthal
Dec 13, 2019·Ski Jumping
Stefan Kraft won the qualification for the World Cup in Klingenthal on Friday evening. The 26-year-old Salzburg-native jumped on 129.5 m (123.7 points) and claimed the prize money of CHF 3000.-.
Karl Geiger, who could once again prove his strong shape this winter, came in second just behind Kraft with 123.1 points (133 m). With Poland's Piotr Zyla and Russian Evgeniy Klimov, two other favorites for Sunday's individual competition finished third and fourth.
The story of the day happened before the qualification even started: A ski got loose at the start and hit World Cup leader Daniel Andre Tande on his ankle before his first training jump. Tande participated in the first training round despite the pain, limped out of the outrun and received medical treatment. Somehow Tande got fit enough to take part in the qualification round later and finished 44th, enough to make the cut. This is important for the reigning Ski Flying World Champion so he can score points in the fight for the overall World Cup title on Sunday.
Norway will be represented by Lindvik, Tande, Markeng, and Johansson in Saturday's team event. Aschenwald, Schlierenzauer, Hayboeck, and Kraft are on the Austrian team, Eisenbichler, Schmid, Freitag, and Geiger compete for Germany.
The team competition on Saturday starts at 4 pm CET.
