Ski jumping: ÖSV eagle in Poland’s double victory in Lillehammer only extras

Stefan Kraft finished eighth in the World Cup ski jumping competition in Lillehammer on Tuesday as the best Austrian. The victory went in a superior manner to Kamil Stoch from Poland, who celebrated his sixth victory of the season. The World Cup leader, who leads the “Raw Air”series with 56.2 points, relegated his compatriot Dawid Kubacki to second place by 27.7 points.

Stoch leads the “Raw Air” with 1,141.5 points clearly ahead of Johansson (+56.2 points) and his compatriot Johann Andre Forfang (86.0). Kraft improved to fifth place in the overall standings, for which the winner receives 60,000 euros in prize money. He is currently missing almost 100 points on Stoch.

The competition was influenced by the wind, especially in the second round, when there were changing tailwind conditions:”The jump felt quite good, but it didn’t go any further upstairs,”said double world champion and last year’s overall World Cup winner Kraft. He did not want to accept this as an excuse:”They are the best again, and you need a little bit of luck for the podium,”said the Salzburg player, who finished second last Sunday in Oslo.

Strength, whose back problems have been alleviated a little bit, has the courage to go even higher:”The big goal is the top 3, but it’s only decided in Vikersund anyway,”the Pongauer knows. At the ski jump, where he had set the ski flying world record last year at 253.5 m, far more points are awarded than on the ski jump in front of it. The next competition jumps will be on Wednesday (qualification) and Thursday (single) in Trondheim, before the decision will be made in Vikersund from Friday to Sunday.

Apart from strength there was a setback for the ÖSV jumpers: Michael Hayböck (44th) and Clemens Aigner (37th) missed the final of the top 30. With Philipp Aschenwald (21st) and Gregor Schlierenzauer (25th), who has already won six times in Lillehammer, only two other Austrians made it to the points.