Stefan Kraft takes the win in foggy Courchevel

Austria's Stefan Kraft won the Ski Jumping Grand Prix on Saturday evening in Courchevel. Kraft came in ahead of Gregor Deschwanden and Simon Ammann of Switzerland.

The Tremplin le Paz-hill in Courchevel almost felt like the Holmenkollen in Oslo in March today. In continuous rain and heavy fog, the athletes had problems seeing the landing area, the judges had problems seeing the athletes, but in the end, it was a really exciting competition.

"This result is a big surprise for me. I couldn't start jumping before early July due to my toe injury, which was a bit of a problem, but I was still able to train very well. I knew that I could show good jumps, but I didn't expect my performance to be that consistent and that it would go so well for me here. It was a cool start to the season for me. Some of the best athletes are not here, but my jumps were good and that makes me happy", said Kraft, for whom this was the second win in the Grand Prix, he claimed the first one in Almaty 2015.

The surprise of the day was provided by the two Swiss Simon Ammann and Gregor Deschwanden in third and second. Four-time Olympic champion Simon Ammann and Deschwanden were jumping very well today right from the start and so they claimed well-deserved podium finishes in Courchevel this evening.

"I couldn't make a lot of jumps recently and had to improvise a lot. I'm reconstructing my house and had exams to study for until July 10th, so I didn't have much time for jumping. I did so well here today, I really don't know how that happened, I just had an amazing day", Simon Ammann said after the competition. For Gregor Deschwanden, the second place today was his first podium ever in the Grand Prix.

Big step forward for Andreas Wellinger
After finishing 21st and 23rd in the Grand Prix opener in Wisla (POL), Andreas Wellinger took the next step on his way back to the top today. The Olympic champion laid the foundation for his good result today in the first round with a 131 m jump, in the second round he then landed at 122 m and came in 13th. The crowd favorite from Bavaria is definitely on the right track right now.
Constantin Schmid was 16th. Willingen-native Stephan Leyhe scored important points for the second time after his serious injury with the 24th place in Courchevel. His teammate Pius Paschke suffered a setback, he was disqualified after the first round because his suit did not meet the rules.
Poland's Maciej Kot achieved a strong result today, he was eighth.

Strong performance by Danil Sadreev
Russia's Danil Sadreev is a huge Ski Jumping talent, he shows his great potential again and again. Today, the 18-year-old was 17th. It will be interesting to see how he will perform in the next events in Kazakhstan and Russia.

Jan Hoerl takes the lead
With his seventh place in Courchevel, Austria's Jan Hoerl took the lead in the overall ranking of the Grand Prix with 196 points. He is followed by Poland's Jakub Wolny (185 points) and Dawid Kubacki (160 points), who was not competing in Courchevel.

The men's Grand Prix continues in four weeks in Schuchinsk (KAZ), where a Ski Jumping Grand Prix will be held for the first time.

Full results