Halvor Egner Granerud wins the qualification in Innsbruck
Jan 02, 2021·Ski Jumping
Norway's Halvor Egner Granerud won the qualification for the third competition of the 69th 4-Hills-Tournament on Saturday. In Innsbruck (AUT), the 4-Hills overall leader jumped on 129 m (132.2 points) and came in ahead of Austria's Daniel Huber and Dawid Kubacki of Poland.
"It's been the first time ever that I've managed to perform well here, my best result here previously was the 20th place, I've also got some disqualifications and did not qualify for the final round, so I'm really happy about today", Granerud said after the successful qualification.
Halvor Egner Granerud remains in fantastic shape, extremely consistent, in this form he is extremely difficult to beat.
Poland's Dawid Kubacki, one of Granerud's main opponents in the fight for the overall title finished third today. After his win in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Kubacki presented himself strong and confident. Last year's 4-Hills champion is, besides Granerud, one of the top contenders for the win in Innsbruck tomorrow.
The two German top favorites Markus Eisenbichler and Karl Geiger also performed very well today and finished fourth and seventh in the qualification. The two top athletes from Germany are still fighting for the title. Geiger is now second overall, 3.5 points behind Granerud, Eisenbichler is fifth, but already 23.5 points the 4-Hills leader from Norway.
The competition in Innsbruck starts on Sunday at 1:30 pm CET.
Statements after the qualification in Innsbruck (AUT).
Daniel Huber: I'm happy, this was a really good jump. It was a difficult day at work for me, because the two training jumps weren't that good. I'm very satisfied with the qualification round, finally, it felt easier for me again. It was a cool jump, with lots of confidence, so it was a lot more fun again. It was a good day.
Halvor Egner Granerud: It's been the first time ever that I've managed to perform well here, my best result here previously was a 20th place, I've also got some disqualifications and did not qualify for the final round, so I'm really happy about today.
Stefan Kraft: The jump in the qualification was very, very good, I'm definitely very satisfied with this performance. In training, I jumped farther, but the inrun was longer and there was some headwind, now I started from one gate lower and there was some tailwind. I'm definitely really looking forward to tomorrow.
Markus Eisenbichler: The jump in the qualification was a lot better than the two in training. I'm quite satisfied with today. I'm at a solid level and know that I still have some room for improvement. If the conditions are like they were today, that's it's great to jump here. I'm definitely looking forward to tomorrow.
Karl Geiger: The training jumps were not exactly amazing, but we drew the right conclusions for the qualification and that's why this jump was important for my confidence. Tomorrow I will give my all again.
Martin Hamann: I think this was a solid performance. It was no special jump, but that wasn't necessary today. It was my first time here in Innsbruck and it was already a lot of fun. It's always about using every jump, show the best possible performance and have fun, that's my main goal.
Severin Freund: In the second training round I lost my position during the radius, this is what I wanted to improve in the qualification. This worked pretty well, but then I had no pressure at the take-off. I have to look at the video, maybe I was also a bit early, this might be the case.
Michael Hayboeck: Yesterday was tough for me, the trial round was quite good, but I couldn't show it in the competition. Today was actually pretty good again, I made some adjustments regarding the equipment, I took a different ski so that the system gets more stable again. That's why I'm quite satisfied with today.
