Double victory for Austria in Engelberg

Stefan Kraft and Jan Hörl secured a double victory for Austria at the second Ski Jumping World Cup this weekend in Engelberg (SUI). Three athletes from Germany finished behind the two ÖSV eagles.
The teams from Austria and Germany set the tone at the rehearsal for the 72nd German-Austrian Four Hills Tournament in Engelberg (SUI).
As at the start of the season, both nations dominated the competition and decided the top places among themselves.
Behind the day's winner Stefan Kraft and his teammate Jan Hoerl in second place, all three German co-favorites for the tour victory this winter, Pius Paschke, Karl Geiger and Andreas Wellinger, finished in third to fifth place.
"That second jump today was really great, everything went really well. It felt mega cool, I already noticed at 50 meters that it was going really far," said the day's winner.
Kraft has been struggling with back problems for a few days, but was able to deliver an outstanding performance in Engelberg despite the discomfort. "I have to get rid of these problems as quickly as possible. I took it easy all day and actually only did the three jumps today. Now we have a few days until the tour starts and we will use this time to get to grips with it," said Kraft.
It was Kraft's fifth victory in the eighth competition of the winter. Kraft clearly leads the overall World Cup with 669 points ahead of the three Germans Wellinger (447 points), Paschke (443 points) and Karl Geiger (414 points).Kraft is also the clear favorite going into the Four Hills Tournament starting on December 29 in Oberstdorf (GER).However, the chances for the German team are better than they have been for a long time.Three German athletes have a realistic chance of winning the tour, it would be the first victory for Germany since Sven Hannawald's success in 2001/2002 
Local hero Gregor Deschwanden finished in 6th place and has finally arrived at the top of the world.The spectators cheered the new Swiss ski jumping star frenetically.
Deschwanden was followed by Lovro Kos from Slovenia, Marius Lindvik from Norway, Anze Lanisek from Slovenia and Ryoyu Kobayashi from Japan in 7th - 10th place.  
The top 10 from the second competition in Engelberg are all among the favorites for the upcoming tour.
The team from Poland is still in crisis, only two athletes reached the final of the best 30, Dawid Kubacki finished 14th and Kamil Stoch 23rd.
In the nations ranking, Poland is clearly in 7th place with 158 points behind Switzerland (320 points), while Germany leads with 1677 points ahead of Austria (1597).
The ski jumpers now have a Christmas break before the first major highlight of the winter begins on December 29 with the Four Hills Tournament in Oberstdorf (GER).