Yukiya Sato wins the qualification in Engelberg
Dec 18, 2020·Ski Jumping
Yukiya Sato was the winner of the first qualification in Engelberg. With this performance, the Japanese, who could win two World Cups last winter, could follow up his performances of the last season for the first time this winter.
The 25-year-old jumped on 137 m and with 153.0 points he came in just ahead of the strong Pole Piotr Zyla (132.5 m; 152.4 points). The third and fourth place went to the two highflyers of this winter: Norway's Halvor Egner Granerud (149.0 points) was third, two points ahead of Markus Eisenbichler of Germany.
"This was a solid jump, I know what I have to work on and I will analyze it this evening with the coaches. All in all, I'm satisfied with the first day here in Engelberg", Eisenbichler explained after his jump in the qualification.
Daniel Huber was the best Austrian today in fifth, followed by Cene Prevc in sixth, who was the best Slovene and also the best of the three Prevc brothers. Peter and Domen Prevc also qualified for the competition on Saturday.
The highlight of the day was provided by Kamil Stoch in the second training round. The three-time Olympic champion landed after amazing 146 m (hill record: 144 m). In the qualification, Stoch then finished seventh.
Surprisingly, the two Germans Andreas Wellinger and Severin Freund failed to make the cut for the competition in 55th and 54th.
Saturday's competition starts at 4 pm CET.
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