Ski jumping competition finalised despite wind conditions – Paschke victorious again
FIS Ski Jumping weekend began regardless of difficult conditions on Saturday, after Friday’s qualification was postponed. The main competition was held straight after the qualification.
The competition had a lot of pauses because of strong winds throughout the day. There were a lot of surprises, for example Halvor Egner Granerud, Robert Johansson and Stephan Leyhe were victims of bad luck.
Slovenian Timi Zajc won the qualification with a 146 meter leap.
The main competition began on considerably better conditions and was completed with no major interruptions. Dawid Kubacki, Junshiro Kobayashi and Pawel Wasek were among the strongest names to go to the second round but were unlucky and ultimately eliminated.
The second round ended with Germany and Austria celebrating. From top 8 jumpers, only Norwegian Kristoffer Eriksen Sundal was neither German or Austrian.
Timi Zajc improved the most on the second round, repeating his antics from the qualification. Zajc placed 9th in the end, because the first round’s jump reached only 121 meters.
Germany’s Pius Paschke was the clear victor with jumps reaching 143 and 143,5 meters. Austrians Jan Hoerl and Stefan Kraft reached the podium, finishing 2nd and 3rd respectively. Kraft had the competition’s longest jump with a 147 meter leap.
Ski jump fans don’t have to wait for long for the next competition, which will be held on Sunday at 14:45, provided the conditions allow it.
Text: Vertti Värekoski
Picture: Teemu Moisio