Forfang flight show in Willingen

Norway's Johann Andre Forfang won the Ski Jumping World Cup in Willingen (GER) on Saturday with an outstanding performance. With a fabulous hill record of 155.5 meters in his final jump, Forfang clearly beat Japan's Ryoyu Kobayashi and Kristoffer Eriksen Sundal (NOR).

This first of two competitions in Willingen was as difficult as it was worth seeing. Although the field was shaken up by extremely difficult conditions and constant rain, the best athlete of the day by far came out on top in the end: Johann Andre Forfang from Norway. Forfang collected an insane 30 points ahead of the second-placed Japanese Ryoyu Kobayashi.
There were tears of joy after Forfang's victory: "I've been waiting a long time for this moment, it's been 5 years since I last stood on the podium. I had doubts that I would be able to win again. I've changed a few things in my technique and the hill in Willingen suits me very well. I'm pretty tired now, but I hope that I can show top jumps again tomorrow," explained Forfang, who had already proven his current top form in training on Friday and with victory in the qualification (together with Ryoyu Kobayashi).

Kobayashi also managed a fantastic jump of 148 meters in the final, which catapulted the Japanese athlete from 15th place in the first round to second place in the final ranking. "My first jump was actually okay, but the conditions weren't so good for me in the first round. While waiting in the leader box, I saw that the conditions had changed, so I knew that I could move up even further. I'm not thinking about the overall World Cup, that's still a long way off, I just always want to do my best," said Kobayashi. 
Due to the surprisingly early out of overall World Cup leader Stefan Kraft (39th place) and 17th place of Andreas Wellinger, Kobayashi made up important points in the battle for the overall World Cup. Kraft now leads with 1089 points ahead of Wellinger (851 points) and Kobayashi (816 points).

Michael Hayboeck, Daniel Tschofenig and Manuel Fettner in 4th, 6th and 7th place ensured a top team result for the Austrians. Team World Champion Domen Prevc came 5th and the best DSV eagle was local hero Stephan Leyhe in 15th place.
Numerous top athletes did not reach the final of the top 30, including Philipp Raimund, Karl Geiger, Stefan Kraft, Kamil Stoch and Simon Ammann.

The second men's Ski Jumping World Cup in Willingen starts on Sunday at 16:10.