The final. Stoch - Kubacki - Granerud
Jan 05, 2021·Ski Jumping
It will be a big battle in the final of the 69th 4-Hills-Tournament. Most likely, the winner of today's qualification in Bischofshofen, Poland's Kamil Stoch, will be able to finish ahead of the third-placed athlete in the qualification, Norway's Halvor Egner Granerud, and win the 4-Hills-Tournament - most likely.
142.9 points earned Kamil Stoch the win in the final qualification of the 69th 4-Hills-Tournament. The Pole presented himself in the usual strong shape and showed no signs of weakness, and Stoch was also modest as usual when it comes to predicting the outcome of the final event tomorrow: "Today's result means nothing for tomorrow. I had a great jump and I'm really happy about it, but tomorrow will be a new day and a new challenge. I'll try to show my best jumps again in the competition tomorrow", he said after his success, for which he received prize money of € 5000.-.
Robert Johansson of Norway came in second in the qualification, followed by his teammate Halvor Egner Granerud, who scored only 0.7 points less than Stoch and will probably by Stoch's main opponent tomorrow. "Innsbruck was something to forget, I think. I now want to show two good jumps here tomorrow. The take-off and flight were okay in the qualification, the landing wasn't the best, but it was a good jump. It's possible to make up 20 points, but it would take two perfect jumps from me and a small mistake from Kamil. That can happen and I'll do my best tomorrow and then we'll see", told Granerud, who is currently 20.6 points behind Stoch in the overall ranking of the 4-Hills-Tournament.
But Granerud would not only have to do what seems almost impossible and get ahead of Stoch tomorrow but also Stoch's teammate Kubacki is ahead of Granerud in the overall ranking (5.4 points) and Kubacki (sixth today) will also not give up without a fight. The overall World Cup leader from Norway faces a very difficult, but not an impossible task tomorrow, it will be extremely exciting again.
The qualification went well for the two Austrians Stefan Kraft and Daniel Huber in fourth and fifth, Michael Hayboeck finished in a very good seventh place.
For Slovenia's Anze Lanisek it was a really bad day at work. After his good results, most recently the second place in Innsbruck, he is sixth in the overall ranking but today he failed to qualify for the competition in 52nd. He will not be competing tomorrow and can therefore not defend or even improve his great overall result.
Jan Hoerl could not take part in the qualification due to an injury he sustained in the official training, but shortly after the qualification, there was good news from the Austrian. The 22-year-old didn't sustain a serious injury. A medical check in the hospital Radstadt-Obertauern showed that the meniscus in his right knee is not injured. Instead, Hoerl suffered a painful bone bruise of the tibial plateau and a small cartilage tear. Right now it is not sure yet whether he will be able to participate in the World Cup in Titisee-Neustadt this weekend.
The final competition in Bischofshofen starts on Wednesday at 4:45 pm CET.
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