Beijing: First training on the large hill
Feb 09, 2022·Ski Jumping
Two days after the mixed team competition on the normal hill, the ski jumpers had their first official training rounds on the large hill in the Snow Ruyi National Ski Jumping Centre in Beijing. Olympic Champion Ryoyu Kobayashi of Japan and Daniel Andre Tande of Norway showed some great jumps, Halvor Egner Granerud also presented himself in strong shape.
After recovering from a Covid-infection, Daniel Andre Tande had just arrived in Beijing on Tuesday evening, but despite the long trip and the jetlag, the former Ski Flying World Champion was jumping very well right away. "I was able to train on the Holmenkollen in Oslo before my trip and now I'm just looking forward to everything that's happening here", said Tande, who did really well on the HS 140 hill right away.
Olympic Champion Ryoyu Kobayashi showed a very good performance today, especially in the second round. Manuel Fettner (AUT) silver medalist on the normal hill a few days ago, also posted some strong jumps, he was sixth in the second round and had the best jump of 133 m in round 3. "The difference from the normal to the large hill is not that big. Both hills have very similar characteristics. Tomorrow I'll take the day off. I think that there will be about twenty contenders for the medals in the large hill competition", Fettner said after his training jumps.
Tande's teammate Halvor Egner Granerud was also in top shape today. Last winter's overall World Cup champion was first, third, and second in the three training rounds, Granerud will be among the top favorites in Saturday's competition, just like the Norwegian team will be in the team competition on Monday.
The training didn't go as they would have wished for the German top jumpers Karl Geiger and Markus Eisenbichler. Eisenbichler was 18th, 12th, and 52nd, Karl Geiger came in 15th, 18th, and 14th.
Three more training rounds will be held on Thursday, starting at 6 pm LOC (11 am CET).
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