Ski Jumping World Cup 2020/2021 - The favorites

Never before has it been so hard to predict who we will be among the best in the upcoming Ski Jumping season. The Grand Prix in Wisla was the only international competition on the highest level since the qualification in Trondheim in March. Nobody really knows where his team stands in comparison to the rest of the world.

The Ski Jumping World Cup starts on November 21st and 22nd in Wisla (POL).

Team Germany
When it comes to statistics, the 2020/21 overall World Cup champion will be Karl Geiger. A closer look at his results in recent years is enough to determine, that Karle, as his teammates call him, can only finish on top in the World Cup this season. In the past five years, he came in 30th, 18th, 14th, 10th, and 2nd in the overall World Cup. The Oberstdorf-native continuously rose to the top. Of course, it's not that easy, especially not in Ski Jumping, but there's no doubt, that Geger is among the top contenders in the upcoming winter.
Besides Geiger, three-time World Champion Markus Eisenbichler is one of the top jumpers on the German team. Eisenbichler is top fit, has trained well over the summer, and is definitely capable of fighting for the Crystal Globe. So far, Eisenbichler has won one World Cup competition, this number could go up significantly this winter.
Andreas Wellinger and Severin Freund are two more top athletes of Germany, but both are still not in top shape after long breaks due to injuries. It will be exciting to see if Martin Hamann can repeat the strong performances he showed this summer.
Bad news for the German team: Stephan Leyhe will miss the entire season due to the ACL tear he sustained in Trondheim last season.

Team Austria:
Stefan Kraft has been the best Austrian ski jumper for many years now. The 27-year-old has been extremely consistent, in the past four years he ended the overall World Cup in 1st, 4th, 2nd, and 1st. This says it all. Last winter's overall World Cup champion is always capable of winning. This summer, Kraft was sidelined for a period of time due to back problems and so he was not able to train the way he would have wanted. That's why it's not clear what shape he is currently in.
Philipp Aschenwald and Daniel Huber are right behind Kraft in the team of the Austrians. Aschenwald was the up-and-comer in the past few years, he is able to finish in the Top 10 of the overall World Cup again, for Daniel Huber, everything is possible.
Record world cup winner Gregor Schlierenzauer (53 wins) is still working hard, but it remains to be seen if the 30-year-old can make it to the top again.

Team Poland:
The Top 3 in the Polish team always have to be reckoned with: Kamil Stoch, Dawid Kubacki, and Piotr Zyla trained well during the course of the summer, are top fit and clearly dominated the field in the two Grand Prix competitions in Wisla. Stoch and Kubacki are definitely on the list of favorites for the overall World Cup title. Stoch, Kubacki, and Zyla can always win and all three lay the foundation for strong performances of Poland in team competitions.
With Stefan Hula, Maciej Kot, Jakub Wolny, and Aleksander Zniszczol, there are four other experienced athletes on the team of head coach Michal Dolezal.
And then there are Klemens Muranka and Pawel Wasek. Muranka is considered a great talent for about ten years now, but so far he was not able to prove this in the World Cup. Maybe he will finally be able to establish himself among the best in the World Cup next season.

Team Norway:
Daniel Andre Tande and Halvor Egner Granerud are the Norwegians who might be able to achieve the best results in the overall World Cup. Daniel Andre Tande showed that he has to be reckoned with in the Norwegian nations. Last winter he had a great start of the season, but then he lost some ground and came in ninth in the World Cup.
Halvor-Egner Granerud made good progress during this summer and might be able to fight for the top spots already at the beginning of the season. His best World Cup result so far is the fourth place in Sapporo 2019, he will probably be able to improve that soon.
Marius Lindvik, who surprisingly won the New Year's competition in Garmisch-Partenkirchen 2020, is able to show top jumps again, but so far the 22-year-old is lacking the consistency in order to be among the best during an entire winter.
Robert Johansson is currently sidelined with back problems, but he should be fit again for the season opener. He is not in top shape yet.
Johann Forfang is not in his best shape, but he is usually getting stronger when jumping on snow and ice starts.
New on the team is Sander Vossan Eriksen. The 19-year-old gained some attention this summer with top results in the Grand Prix and the COC in Wisla that earned him a spot on the team for the World Cup opener in Wisla.

Team Slovenia:
Out of the Slovenian jumpers, the performances Peter Prevc will be the most interesting the see. The oldest of the three Prevc-brothers won the final competition of the 2019/20 season in Lillehammer. With this success, the 2015/16 overall World Cup champion ended a winless drought of more than three years. Together with Timi Zajc, Ziga Jelar, and Anze Lanisek, who are all on a similar level right now and so Slovenia has a strong team. In training, Anze Lanisek is often their best, if the 24-year-old is able to show the same performances in the competitions, he can be among the best.
The Slovenes are especially focused on the Ski Flying World Championships in their home country in December. This event was originally scheduled for March but had to be postponed due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Team Japan:
Ryoyu Kobayashi, the highflyer of the 2018/19 season, and Yukiya Sato, who won two World Cups (Nizhny Tagil and Sapporo) last winter, will probably be the strongest athletes on the Japanese team. Naoki Nakamura was also able to show convincing performances in the most recent domestic competitions in Hakuba and Sapporo. (Results Ryoyu Kobayashi)
Noriaki Kasai trained well ins summer but didn't make the team for the World Cup. He will have his next chance at the World Cup in Sapporo, where he will most likely have a spot in the national quota. It will be interesting the see how the 48-year-old will perform.
*Update: After the cancelation of the World Cup in Sapporo, Noriaki Kasai will probably not get a chance to compete for Team Japan in the upcoming World Cup season.