Engelberg: Ryoyu Kobayashi ahead of Karl Geiger
Dec 19, 2021·Ski Jumping
Ryoyu Kobayashi won the second World Cup competition in Engelberg on Sunday evening. The Japanese finished ahead of Karl Geiger of Germany and Norway's Marius Lindvik in a dramatic final round.
The fans at the hill in Engelberg (SUI) saw an exciting competition on a high level, which was also affected by the wind conditions, especially in the second round. In the end, Ryoyu Kobayashi, the strongest athlete today, took the win with 306.0 points that earned him a lead of 12.2 points. But also Karl Geiger (293.8 points) and Marius Lindvik (293.5 points) showed great jumps today.
"The conditions today were a bit difficult, but I managed to stay focused and didn't worry about the conditions that much and so my jumps were really good", said Kobayashi, for whom this was the 22nd World Cup win, the third in Engelberg and also the third this season.
Karl Geiger explained: "I'm definitely satisfied, it was a really good weekend for me. My jumps yesterday were a little bit better, but the competition was on a very high level and I'm very satisfied with the second place. Now I'm looking forward to my home competition in Oberstdorf, but first I want to enjoy Christmas and recharge the batteries."
After the weekend in Engelberg, Kobayashi and Geiger are now the top favorites for the upcoming 4-Hills-Tournament, the two winners of this weekend's competitions will be the ones to beat there.
Local hero Killian Peier became the tragic figure of the day. Peier, who was already fourth in yesterday's competition, was in the lead after the first round today but came in fourth again. A huge disappointment for the Swiss at first, but later he realized that he can be more than satisfied with his performances this weekend. The 26-year-old came back stronger than ever after his injury and is extremely consistent right now. The bronze medalist of the World Championships in Seefeld is one of the athletes who can become one of the contenders in the fight for the overall title of the 4-Hills-Tournament, starting in Oberstdorf on December 29th.
Russia's Evgenii Klimov achieved his best result since 2019 in fifth, he was also fifth in Engelberg 2018. Halvor Egner Granerud posted an amazing jump in the final round today and moved up from 22nd to sixth overall.
The best of the Austrians was Daniel Huber in eighth, his teammate Daniel Tschofenig surprised in tenth, Jan Hoerl was 12th, and Stefan Kraft 14th.
Once again it was not a good day for the team of Poland. The places 14 and 15 of Piotr Zyla and Kamil Stoch are not enough for the team of head coach Michal Dolezal, the pressure on the Czech is increasing before the 4-Hills-Tournament.
The World Cup continues with the opening event of the 70th 4-Hills-Tournament in Oberstdorf on December 29th.
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