ski flying
Jan Hörl was extremely lucky during the test jump before qualifying for the ski flying finals in Planica. The man from Salzburg, Olympic champion with the ÖSV team, suddenly lost his balance in the inrun track on Thursday and was just able to avoid a serious fall before the jump. Nevertheless, the 23-year-old landed safely after 97.5 meters.
The shock was visible afterwards. “Upstairs there is shadow in the track, downstairs the sun shines on it. You drive in at full speed, you want to be actively above the ski. Suddenly it stops you and pushes you in. Luckily I instinctively reacted correctly. I’m happy myself that I can still stand there,” said Hörl.
The qualification for the competition on Friday (2 p.m., live on ORF1) was postponed to Thursday afternoon (3 p.m., live on ORF1 and in the live stream) by the jury because the track was too watery and dangerous.
Austria’s team is still pursuing two goals in the final at the weekend. In the Nations Cup, which the ÖSV team has not won since 2014, it defends a comfortable lead. Head coach Andreas Widholzl’s team is 178 points ahead of Germany with three competitions to go. Stefan Kraft also grabs the small ball in the Ski Flying World Cup in Slovenia. Before the two individual competitions, the World Championship third is tied for the lead with the Slovenian local hero Timi Zajc.
In the fight for the big crystal globe for the overall World Cup, the four-time winner of the season, Kraft, and his ÖSV colleagues only play supporting roles, as they did last season. This is fought out by Ryoyu Kobayashi and the German Karl Geiger. The Japanese goes into the final with a 66-point lead. Thanks to his victory and third place in Oberstdorf, Kraft has every chance of winning the special classification in the four-part World Cup.