The two Austrian top jumpers Michael Hayboeck and Stefan Kraft have decided to not participate in the next World Cup in Sapporo on the upcoming weekend.

"We were practically on the road for a month now, we were either on the hill or travelling every day. And not even half of the World Cup is over now. Right after Japan it continues with tours through Norway and Finland and with Kazakhstan. I think that you can only fight for top results there if you are well rested", said Stefan Kraft, who took the first win this season for Austria last Sunday in Zakopane.

Michael Hayboeck, currently the best Austrian in the overall World Cup in fourth, also thinks that he needs a break now after the exhausting last couple of weeks. "Of course I would like to compete in Japan and the people there would deserve to see all the top jumpers compete. But I had some health problems recently and so taking a break is a reasonable decision. Actually I was already sure that it's not possible to compete in every event when I first saw this season's World Cup calendar. Although it will also be interesting to see if somebody tries it an what the result will be at the end."

Poppinger and Hofer will not compete as well

Of the team, that was taking part in Zakopane last weekend, also Manuel Poppinger and Thomas Hofer will not travel to Sapporo. Manuel Poppinger will take a break, Thomas Hofer will participate in the Continental Cup in Bischofshofen.

So the Austrian team for the two individual competitions on Saturday and Sunday will consist of Manuel Fettner, Andreas Kofler, Philipp Aschenwald, Clemens Aigner, Elias Tollinger and Daniel Huber.

Source: fis-ski.com