Stefan Kraft wins large hill qualification
Mar 04, 2021·Ski Jumping
It will be exciting in Oberstdorf. Austria's Stefan Kraft won the final qualification of the WSC 2021. The 2017 World Champion posted a jump of 127 m (143.5 points) on the HS 137 large hill and took the win ahead of Norway's Johann Andre Forfang and Markus Eisenbichler of Germany.
With today's success, Stefan Kraft confirmed his upward trend of the past days and weeks. After this performance, Kraft is now also one of the top contenders for the medals in the competition tomorrow. The same applies to Johann Andre Forfang, who replaces Halvor Egner Granerud on the team and did a really good job. Forfang finished second and has a realistic chance to provide yet another surprise at the World Championships.
Top favorite Halvor Egner Granerud of Norway had to follow today's qualification from his hotel room due to his Covid-19 infection. As compensation, he could already celebrate the overall World Cup title today. Due to the cancellation of the RAW AIR competitions, Granerud has already scored enough points to secure this title.
Markus Eisenbichler came in third today and keeps the German hopes of another medal at the WSC alive. Eisenbichler jumped on 127.5 m (140.8 points) and can fight for the top tomorrow with two good jumps. "I'm was among the best today, that's okay. The jump wasn't perfect, but I'm satisfied with how it went today", said Eisenbichler, who can be optimistic for the competition.
Piotr Zyla, newly minted normal hill World Champion, was fourth today and will have to be reckoned with in the fight for the medals again in tomorrow's competition.
Keiichi Sato (JPN) and Peter Prevc (SLO) showed top performances and came in fifth and sixth, Daniel Huber and Ryoyu Kobayashi convinced in seventh and eighth.
With Casey Larson (48th) and Andrew Urlaub (37th), two US Americans qualified for the competition.
The first round on Friday will start at 5 pm CET.
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