The World Championship third from Vikersund showed by far the best flight of the qualification on Friday. The man from Salzburg landed at 225.5 meters and distanced the second-placed Slovenian Anze Lanisek by 11.3 points. Third was surprise man Bendik Jakobsen Heggli from Norway. All seven Austrians managed to qualify for the competition on Saturday (4:00 p.m.).
“It was a really good qualifier,” said Kraft. “I’m very happy with the hill, it’s in great condition.” He is confident that flights over the 230 meter mark will also be possible at the weekend. In addition, despite Corona, 7,000 spectators are allowed in Oberstdorf. Kraft: “It’s going to be a good party here with the fans. We’ve been waiting for something like this for a long time.” Already in training things went very well for Kraft with flights on 218 and 226 meters.
Vice World Champion Timi Zajc, who landed 232 m in the first training jump, achieved the best distance of the day. In qualifying, however, the Slovene only managed 17th place. Michael Hayböck flew there as the second-best Austrian with a run-up that was two hatches longer at 228 meters and sixth place. Junior World Champion Daniel Tschofenig (19th), Daniel Huber (24th), Thomas Lackner (31st), Manuel Fettner (33rd) and Ulrich Wohlmentioned (38th) also made it into the 40-field.
The German local hero Karl Geiger, who is still fighting for the overall World Cup, finished fourth in the qualification ahead of World Champion Marius Lindvik from Norway. His Japanese rival Ryoyu Kobayashi, who was 58 points ahead of him in the World Cup four individual flight competitions, only came in 13th.
Source: Nachrichten
