Markus Eisenbichler and Halvor Egner Granerud also strong in Nizhny Tagil

Markus Eisenbichler won the first qualification in Nizhny Tagil (RUS) on Friday evening. The 29-year-old German posted the longest jump of the round of 135 m and scored 138.1 points. Norway's Halvor Egner Granerud and Daniel Huber of Austria came in second and third.

It was a great start of the weekend in Nizhny Tagil, almost 2000 km east of Moscow, for overall World Cup leader Markus Eisenbichler. "During my jump, I had the typical conditions for Nizhny Tagil, slight tailwind after the take-off and then a bit of headwind in the flight. That's a lot of fun", said Eisenbichler, who was happy about the jump and the check of CHF 3000,- for the winner.

Eisenbichler is not the top favorite for the two competitions on Saturday and Sunday, besides Halvor Egner Granerud, who also showed some very strong jumps in Nizhny Tagil. In the qualification, Granerud jumped on 131.5 m and came in second, only 2.3 points behind Eisenbichler.

Eisenbichler and Granerud will be the ones to beat if you want to win on the hill in Nizhny Tagil in the forecasted perfect conditions on Saturday.

Daniel Huber of the Austrian team presented himself in strong shape as well. Huber was third and the best Austrian, just like in the season opener in Wisla. Off the hill, the Austrians made news with the surprise firing of assistant coach Robert Treitinger. Treitinger was one of the team members, who tested positive for the corona virus after the World Cup opener in Wisla.

Last year's winner Yukiya Sato confirmed his position as the currently best Japanese jumper in fourth. Marius Lindvik and Robert Johansson were fifth and sixth and completed the very good result of the team of head coach Alexander Stoeckl.

The first competition in Nizhny Tagil starts on Saturday at 4:30 pm CET (8:30 pm LOC).

Full results