Dawid Kubacki rocks Titisee-Neustadt
Dec 11, 2022·Ski JumpingTitisee-Neustadt experienced a historic ski jumping World Cup on Sunday evening. In the high-class competition, World Cup leader Dawid Kubacki ensured a whopping points lead of 25.7 ahead of second-placed Anze Lanisek of Slovenia and Stefan Kraft of Austria with an outstanding performance.
For Kubacki it was World Cup victory number 8, the third this winter. Kubacki is now the hot favourite for the upcoming competitions in Engelberg and the following Four Hills Tournament.
Dawid Kubacki jumps in the form of his life. With playful ease, the Pole literally outclassed his competitors today at the Ski Jumping World Cup in Titisee-Neustadt.
"The hardest part of my work today was all the autographs after the competition. It was wonderful that after the two Covid years so many fans made a great atmosphere at the hill again. The fans were cheering for all the athletes, which was really great. Our whole team worked hard, I feel good and I had a really good feeling in my legs today. The fact that I had such a big lead today surprised me a bit myself. In these conditions like today, especially in the first run, mistakes are usually punished twice, with one tiny mistake you lose several metres directly, it was not easy conditions in run one. We made good use of the break after the World Cup opener and we have a really strong team at the moment," said Kubacki, who had finished second behind Anze Lanisek in the first competition in Titisee-Neustadt on Friday.
Kubacki now leads the World Cup with 470 points ahead of Anze Lanisek (416 points) and Stefan Kraft (377).
Lanisek could look back on an all-round successful weekend: "Second podium here in Titisee-Neustadt, that feels very good. The hill was in a super condition. I am very happy. Of course it could be a bit better, but I am also very happy with second place. Podium is always good."
Stefan Kraft from Austria was happy about third place: "The self-confidence is certainly there after the start of the season. This is my best start to the season that I can remember. I am mega happy about the form I have right now. Third place was a bit unexpected. I struggled a bit on the hill today. Actually I find the hill very cool because it still has an old profile. But in the second jump I cracked it and I'm happy to be on the podium."
"For a moment I thought we were in Poland. There was a whole armada of fans from Poland. It was a mega cool atmosphere. It's a thousand times better than in the last years. It's really fun again," Kraft explained.
More than 6,000 fans, including many from Poland, created an outstanding atmosphere at the Hochfirstschanze. "We really missed that in the last two years, so it's even nicer that there is such a great atmosphere at the jumps again," said FIS Race Director Sandro Pertile about the successful weekend in the Black Forest.
Piotr Zyla (POL) and Halvor Egner Granerud (NOR) finished 4th and 5th, Karl Geiger came in 6th, Kamil Stoch (8th) and Pawel Wasek (11th) completed a very strong team result of the Polish team.
In the high-class competition, surprisingly, some top athletes were already eliminated after round one, among them Timi Zajc, Domen Prevc, Marius Lindvik and Daniel Tschofenig.
For the men, the World Cup continues next weekend in Engelberg (SUI) before the short Christmas break before the Four Hills Tournament. Two World Cups are on the programme in Engelberg.