Ryoyu Kobayashi starts World Cup final with qualification win
Mar 24, 2021·Ski Jumping
The final weekend of this Ski Jumping season started with a great first day of training and qualification in Planica (SLO). There were many personal bests and national records set in today's training round and also in the qualification. In the end, the win went to Japan's Ryoyu Kobayashi with a jump of 229 m, Markus Eisenbichler came in second this afternoon.
Ryoyu Kobayashi won the qualification for the first of three individual World Cups in Planica on Wednesday afternoon. The 2019 overall World Cup champion had a perfect jump of 229 m (249.7 points) and finished ahead of Markus Eisenbichler (227.5 m; 248.5 points) and Slovenia's Bor Pavlovcic (232.5 m; 245.8 points).
The fourth place in the qualification went to Karl Geiger, who won the Ski Flying World Championship title on the very same hill just three months ago. Geiger was followed by the two Poles Andrzej Stekala and Dawid Kubacki in fifth and sixth, Johann Forfang was the best Norwegian in eighth. Naoki Nakamura posted the longest jump of the qualification with 236 m and came in ninth, tied with Austria's Michael Hayboeck, who is one of the top contenders for the podium this weekend.
Overall World Cup winner Halvor Egner Granerud presented himself well after recovering from his Covid-19 infection. The Norwegian didn't put all his cards on the table just yet and finished 28th in the qualification. "I recovered well and it was nice to have a few days to process everything that had happened this winter", explained Granerud, who took a total of eleven World Cup wins so far this season already claimed the overall World Cup title.
In good conditions and under a bright blue sky, the athletes performed on the highest level in the qualification and achieved many personal bests. It was an especially successful day for the team of Estonia: Not only that both athletes, Kevin Maltsev and Artti Aigro, made the cut for the competition, but Aigro also set a new Estonian national record with 227 m.
The first of four competitions (three individual competitions, one team event) starts on Thursday at 3 pm CET.
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