Klinec and Kraft win in Courchevel

The first day of the FIS Grand Prix 2024 demanded everything from the athletes in Courchevel in the French Alps.

Changing conditions with wind, rain and severe temperature fluctuations caused numerous interruptions.
In the end, two experienced athletes came out on top in the two competitions, but there were some real surprises in the places, especially in the men's competition.

In the afternoon, Eva Klinec from Slovenia came out on top in a competition lasting 2:24 hours ahead of Sara Takanashi from Japan and Jacqueline Seifriedsberger from Austria. The competition had to be interrupted time and again, which ultimately led to the long competition time.

Despite the difficult conditions, Klinec impressed in both runs and ensured clear conditions with an 11.8-point lead over Takanashi.

Behind the top 3, Lisa Eder (4th), Josephine Pagnier (5th) and overall World Cup winner Nika Prevc (6th) from Slovenia also impressed.

Annika Sieff (7th) from Italy, the Czech Karolina Indrackova (8th) and the two Canadians Abigail Strate and Alexandria Loutitt completed the top 10.
There were no German jumpers at the start.
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In the men's event, top favorite Stefan Kraft from Austria won with a clear lead over the two surprise men Valentin Foubert (FRA) and Alex Insam from Italy.

Kraft scored maximum points in both runs, giving him a lead of over 25 points over Foubert.

"It was pretty brutal today with the conditions, incredibly changeable. But I'm very happy with my jumps, it was perfect today, it's a great start to the summer for me," explained the man from Salzburg, who celebrated victory in the overall World Cup for the 2023/2024 season just over four months ago.

However, local hero Valentin Foubert caused a stir among the spectators.
The 22-year-old from Courchevel provided the surprise of the day in second place. In February, Foubert made it into the top 30 for the first and so far only time with 23rd place in Willingen (GER), and today he made it straight onto the podium - the Frenchman's performance was sensational.
Behind Fourbert Alex Insam from Italy impressed in third place.

The strong Austrians Manuel Fettner and Jan Hoerl came fourth and sixth, with Switzerland's Killian Peier in fifth place.

Team Japan was also surprisingly strong: with Keiichi Sato (7th), Naoki Nakamura (8th) and Junshiro Kobayashi (10th), three Japanese athletes made it into the top 10 even without the great Ryoyu Kobayashi competing in Courchevel.

The athletes from Germany, on the other hand, fell well short of expectations: Markus Eisenbichler was the only one to reach the final of the top 30, with the Bavarian finishing in 29th place.