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Austrians take double win at 4-Hills opener
While Austria took a double win in the opening event of the 4-Hills-Tournament, thanks to Stefan Kraft and Michael Hayboeck, the German fans and Simon Ammann lost all the hopes for an overall win.
With jumps on 136.5 m and 129 m and a total of 291.9 points in the heavy snowfall in Oberstdorf, Stefan Kraft achieved his first win in the World Cup. His teammate Michael Hayboeck followed in second with 137.5 m and 132.5 m and 285.0 points.
It was a very emotional win for Stefan Kraft: “I knew I would win someday, it's like a dream that it happened today. Michael and I are roommates and we already said we should be on the podium together. We will definitely try to do that again in Garmisch. I already did well here in training and it was a lot of fun, then it was very difficult yesterday and today with the tail wind and the snow. I tried to show two good jumps and that worked perfectly. The fans were great again today.”
Michael Hayboeck was happy as well: “It seems that Austrians always do well in the 4-Hills-Tournament. We trained were well and showed a great team performance today. I'm not thinking about the overall ranking yet, we only had two of eighth jumps today. If the conditions are as difficult as they were today, things can change really fast. Stefan and I will push each other now and it can be an advantage that we can motivate and support each other."
Deja-vu for Prevc
The third place went to Peter Prevc, the winner of the qualification, with jumps on 139.5 m and 125.5 m (283.9 points). The Slovene said: “So far everything is like it was last year when I was also third in Oberstdorf. At the end I was fourth in the overall. I can't make any predictions about on which place I'll finish in the 4-Hills-Tournament, there are still three difficult competitions ahead of us. My only job is to focus on the jumping and to show the best possible performance."
Double Olympic Champion Kamil Stoch came in on a very good fourth place in his first appearance in the World Cup this season. After his break due to an ankle injury the Pole jumped on 129 m and 131 m for a total of 274.9 points. Only 0.1 points behind, Andreas Kofler completed the almost perfect result for Austria with 135.5 m and 126 m.
It was an extremely disappointing evening for Simon Ammann. The four time Olympic Champion, who has won every major title except the 4-Hills-Tournament, risked too much in the first round and fell after the landing at 133 m. The Swiss was out after the first round and lost his chances to win the long awaited overall title.
Anders Fannemel of Norway came in sixth, but with 270.7 points he is already 20 points behind the 4-Hills overall leader. Also Czech Roman Koudelka, who was considered a favorite by many, could not follow up on his previous performances and finished seventh with 265.3 points. Noriaki Kasai (264.3 points) and Daiki Ito (262.5 points) achieved Top 10 results for the Japanese team. Jernej Damjan came in on a shared ninth place with Ito.
Disappointment for German team
Behind the best Finn Lauri Asikainen (11th) and Phillip Sjoeen, Severin Freund was the best German in 13th. Richard Freitag (15th) and Marinus Kraus (18th) could also not meet the high expectations.
Freitag was obviously disappointed: “I already lost a few meters in the first round, the second jump was not that good either. That's annoying when you know what's actually possible. But I already feel better again and I'm looking forward to the next days.” Severin Freund added: “I can't explain it now, it just didn't work in the competition. The jumps were simply bad. Of course know I don't go to Garmisch with a very good feeling, but I have to continue working.”
Only Stephan Leyhe and Daniel Wenig in 19th and 22nd provided some good news for the German team. Daniel Wenig said: “I can't complain, these are my first World Cup points. It's great that 12 000 spectators are here again, despite the cancelation yesterday.” The dream of the overall win at the 4-Hills-Tournament is probably over for Freund, who is now already 37 points behind Kraft.
German head coach Werner Schuster is already looking ahead: “We will go to Garmisch tonight. It's important that the team can relax now. Kraft and Hayboeck were jumping really well. With an outstanding jump it would have been possible to attack them. Severin's problem was a mistake I haven't seen in a while. He was far too late and he was lacking the self-confidence. He wanted to jump extremely well today. It was different for Richard. He was too tense and too early at the take-off. For Austria the 4-Hills-Tournament is a bit like soccer World Championships for the German national team. It just works. For us it's now about achieved good results in the next competitions. We never had such a bad result with such a high quality in our team. It's a disaster and a disappointment that our top athletes showed such bad performances here.”
Two former 4-Hills winners of Austria could not keep up with the performances of their teammates today. Gregor Schlierenzauer came in 17th, defending champion Thomas Diethart was 27th. Diethart told afterwards: “The trend is positive and so I also gain self-confidence. In the second round it felt like flying.”
Schlierenzauer told: “I can live with this result. The first jump was good, the second wasn't. I'm still lacking the consistency and I have to work on some things. During the rest of the 4-Hills-Tournament I want to improve step by step and show good jumps.”
Dimitry Vassiliev in 23rd and Vladislav Boyarintsev in 30th could score points for the Russian team.
After a day of rest on Tuesday, the 4-Hills-Tournament continues on December 31st with the qualification for the New Year's competition in Garmisch-Partenkirchen.
With jumps on 136.5 m and 129 m and a total of 291.9 points in the heavy snowfall in Oberstdorf, Stefan Kraft achieved his first win in the World Cup. His teammate Michael Hayboeck followed in second with 137.5 m and 132.5 m and 285.0 points.
It was a very emotional win for Stefan Kraft: “I knew I would win someday, it's like a dream that it happened today. Michael and I are roommates and we already said we should be on the podium together. We will definitely try to do that again in Garmisch. I already did well here in training and it was a lot of fun, then it was very difficult yesterday and today with the tail wind and the snow. I tried to show two good jumps and that worked perfectly. The fans were great again today.”
Michael Hayboeck was happy as well: “It seems that Austrians always do well in the 4-Hills-Tournament. We trained were well and showed a great team performance today. I'm not thinking about the overall ranking yet, we only had two of eighth jumps today. If the conditions are as difficult as they were today, things can change really fast. Stefan and I will push each other now and it can be an advantage that we can motivate and support each other."
Deja-vu for Prevc
The third place went to Peter Prevc, the winner of the qualification, with jumps on 139.5 m and 125.5 m (283.9 points). The Slovene said: “So far everything is like it was last year when I was also third in Oberstdorf. At the end I was fourth in the overall. I can't make any predictions about on which place I'll finish in the 4-Hills-Tournament, there are still three difficult competitions ahead of us. My only job is to focus on the jumping and to show the best possible performance."
Double Olympic Champion Kamil Stoch came in on a very good fourth place in his first appearance in the World Cup this season. After his break due to an ankle injury the Pole jumped on 129 m and 131 m for a total of 274.9 points. Only 0.1 points behind, Andreas Kofler completed the almost perfect result for Austria with 135.5 m and 126 m.
It was an extremely disappointing evening for Simon Ammann. The four time Olympic Champion, who has won every major title except the 4-Hills-Tournament, risked too much in the first round and fell after the landing at 133 m. The Swiss was out after the first round and lost his chances to win the long awaited overall title.
Anders Fannemel of Norway came in sixth, but with 270.7 points he is already 20 points behind the 4-Hills overall leader. Also Czech Roman Koudelka, who was considered a favorite by many, could not follow up on his previous performances and finished seventh with 265.3 points. Noriaki Kasai (264.3 points) and Daiki Ito (262.5 points) achieved Top 10 results for the Japanese team. Jernej Damjan came in on a shared ninth place with Ito.
Disappointment for German team
Behind the best Finn Lauri Asikainen (11th) and Phillip Sjoeen, Severin Freund was the best German in 13th. Richard Freitag (15th) and Marinus Kraus (18th) could also not meet the high expectations.
Freitag was obviously disappointed: “I already lost a few meters in the first round, the second jump was not that good either. That's annoying when you know what's actually possible. But I already feel better again and I'm looking forward to the next days.” Severin Freund added: “I can't explain it now, it just didn't work in the competition. The jumps were simply bad. Of course know I don't go to Garmisch with a very good feeling, but I have to continue working.”
Only Stephan Leyhe and Daniel Wenig in 19th and 22nd provided some good news for the German team. Daniel Wenig said: “I can't complain, these are my first World Cup points. It's great that 12 000 spectators are here again, despite the cancelation yesterday.” The dream of the overall win at the 4-Hills-Tournament is probably over for Freund, who is now already 37 points behind Kraft.
German head coach Werner Schuster is already looking ahead: “We will go to Garmisch tonight. It's important that the team can relax now. Kraft and Hayboeck were jumping really well. With an outstanding jump it would have been possible to attack them. Severin's problem was a mistake I haven't seen in a while. He was far too late and he was lacking the self-confidence. He wanted to jump extremely well today. It was different for Richard. He was too tense and too early at the take-off. For Austria the 4-Hills-Tournament is a bit like soccer World Championships for the German national team. It just works. For us it's now about achieved good results in the next competitions. We never had such a bad result with such a high quality in our team. It's a disaster and a disappointment that our top athletes showed such bad performances here.”
Two former 4-Hills winners of Austria could not keep up with the performances of their teammates today. Gregor Schlierenzauer came in 17th, defending champion Thomas Diethart was 27th. Diethart told afterwards: “The trend is positive and so I also gain self-confidence. In the second round it felt like flying.”
Schlierenzauer told: “I can live with this result. The first jump was good, the second wasn't. I'm still lacking the consistency and I have to work on some things. During the rest of the 4-Hills-Tournament I want to improve step by step and show good jumps.”
Dimitry Vassiliev in 23rd and Vladislav Boyarintsev in 30th could score points for the Russian team.
After a day of rest on Tuesday, the 4-Hills-Tournament continues on December 31st with the qualification for the New Year's competition in Garmisch-Partenkirchen.
Source: fis-ski.com
