Next win for Stefan Kraft
Dec 02, 2023·Ski Jumping
Austria's Stefan Kraft has also won the third Ski Jumping World Cup of the season. After two victories on the large hill in Ruka (FIN) last weekend, the man from Salzburg triumphed today in Lillehammer (NOR).
Kraft showed an outstanding performance on the HS 98 normal hill in Lillehammer and provided the highlight of the day with a 104 meter jump in round 1.
Andreas Wellinger (GER) and Daniel Tschofenig (AUT) finished second and third.
The teams from Austria and Germany continue to dominate the Ski Jumping World Cup. The two nations took the top places in the World Cup in Lillehammer, with only Slovenia's Anze Lanisek (8th place) and Norway's Marius Lindvik (10th) making it into the top 10, with all other top 10 places going to Austria and Germany.
"This is a magical place for me, the first competition and the first victory on this hill. It wasn't easy for Andreas Wellinger and me when we had to wait so long at the top, I think it was -15°, but that's part of it. The hill is in excellent condition, everything was perfect," said a delighted Kraft.
The German ski jumpers confirmed their outstanding start to the season from Finland: Andreas Wellinger (2nd), Karl Geiger (4th), Pius Paschke (6th) and Stephan Leyhe (9th) once again delivered a top team result. "It was a pretty difficult competition with the changing wind conditions today, but I did a good job and I'm more than happy with second place," said Wellinger.
Austria top and Poland still in form crisis
Stefan Kraft, Daniel Tschofenig, Manuel Fettner and Jan Hörl finished 1st, 3rd, 5th and 7th for Austria, and even Daniel Huber, who was the "weakest Austrian" on his comeback on this day, finished 22nd, ahead of the best Pole Pawel Wasek (23rd).
Austria now leads the nation rankings with 750 points ahead of Germany (701 points), followed by Slovenia (250 points) in third place with a clear gap. The team from Poland is in 8th place with 46 points behind Switzerland and Finland.
Stefan Kraft leads the overall World Cup with 300 out of a possible 300 points, followed by Andreas Wellinger (190 points) and Pius Paschke (170 points) in second and third place.
The second World Cup follows on Sunday in Lillehammer, then from the large hill.
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