Small but mighty: Hinzenbach is a challenge

“With the ring on my finger I can be a little straighter in the air,” says Michael Hayböck. The Theninger ski jumping veteran is in a good mood before the Summer Grand Prix home game next weekend in Hinzenbach. It is his first competition as a young husband. But the challenge lies somewhere else, and the 32-year-old is aware of that before his first competition since the end of the winter season in Planica.

The competition is strong with 62 starters from 18 nations, including overall World Cup winner Halvor Egner Granerud and Olympic champion Ryoyu Kobayashi. But the small K90 hill is always a criterion. Yesterday, Hayböck and his ÖSV teammate Jan Hörl tested their form there. “Normally we hardly jump on jumps like this anymore. But it’s a lot of fun,” says Hayböck, who married his Claudia at the end of August.

“Feels like standing long jump”

“It kind of feels like a standing long jump. The take-off is incredibly important, but you also have to get a nice landing because you get a lot of points for it. And since we’ll all be within a few meters of each other here, that can make the difference,” explains Hayboeck. In addition to him and Hörl, the ÖSV also has Manuel Fettner, Stefan Kraft and Marco Wörgötter, who came third last year. Before the first Hinzenbach double on Saturday and Sunday (OK boss Bernhard Zauner: “… that shows that the world association values ​​us very much”) and the Grand Prix final in Klingenthal, the Bulgarian Wladimir Zografski surprisingly leads the overall ranking.

But it’s not just the lords of the skies who are the focus. 120 children will also take part in the final of the children’s Four Hills Tournament. And Daniela Iraschko-Stolz, the long-time leader in Austria, will be given a fitting farewell in the run-out on Saturday.