After leading at halftime, Kraft had to admit defeat to the Japanese overall tour winner Ryoyu Kobayashi by 5.1 points, while the German Andreas Wellinger came third (-7.0). An ÖSV trio with Jan Hörl (-11.0), Michael Hayböck (-16.1) and Manuel Fettner (-16.4) landed in sixth to eighth place.
Kraft didn’t mourn his seventh win of the season at all, at least outwardly, even though he had a bonus of 6.8 points at halftime over Kobayashi, who was only in fifth place. “Incredible,” said the two-time overall World Cup winner when asked about the podium record. “I’ve been feeling really bad since Tuesday, so I saved all my energy for today.” The fact that he was spared for the Super Team competition the day before ultimately paid off. Because a little bit of energy came back in the morning. “I’m very proud of the two jumps. The fact that it’s really a podium is beautiful and a bit unbelievable.”
“That is beautiful”
To have now caught up with Ahonen, the ski jumping god according to Kraft, is something special. “That’s wonderful. I’m very happy that so much always works. I hope that a few more (podium places, note) will follow.” After around 40 percent of the World Cup season, the ÖSV star extended the World Cup lead over Wellinger to a lead of 242 points with his jumps of 132.0 and 129.5 m. Kobayashi is another 66 points behind. The Asian claimed his long-overdue first win of the season after finishing second four times on the tour.
Hörl and Fettner had achieved second place in the super team competition at the opening stop of the Poland tour the day before. Both were also happy about their individual performance. Hayböck, who was placed between the two teammates, agreed, especially because of his fitness problems during the week. “I wasn’t completely ill, but I wasn’t able to do any physical activity. I spent a lot of time in bed.” Clemens Aigner took 16th place, 18-year-old Stephan Embacher missed qualifying for the second round in 34th place.
The ranking of the Poland Tour, led in the nations ranking by Slovenia (1,558.4 points) ahead of Austria (1,507.2) and Germany (1,484.0), will continue on Tuesday and Wednesday with qualification and competition in Szczyrk and from Friday to Sunday in Zakopane completed. Afterwards we go to the Ski Flying World Championships at the Kulm in Bad Mitterndorf.
