For the second consecutive year, Klingenthal’s Vogtland arena was the site of the opening competitions of the FIS Ski Jumping World Cup presented by Viessmann. More than 17,000 spectators attended the team and individual events on 22nd and 23rd November which were filled with excitement.

Koudelka victorious in individual competition

Roman Koudelka (CZE) was in first position after the qualification round and kept the top spot, earning victory with jumps of 138 m and 139.5 m. Stefan Kraft (AUT) and Andreas Wellinger (GER) rounded out the podium.

For Koudelka, it was his first World Cup triumph: “I'm very happy about this win. The whole weekend went very well for me. I feel mentally strong and worked hard in summer. Now I hope that I can also have good performances in the next competitions.”

Germany wins team event

On the previous day, the German ski jumpers flew to a home victory. Markus Eisenbichler, Richard Freitag, Andreas Wellinger and Severin Freund had a strong team performance (1098.0 points) with Eisenbichler posting the best jump of 142 m. Japan (1068.9) and Norway (1061.2) followed in second and third positions.

From a weather perspective, there was enough snow to offer the world's best ski jumpers perfect conditions for the opening events. After windy, sometimes even stormy competitions in the previous years, the hard work of the Organising Committee paid off this year. Despite mild temperatures of close to 15° Celsius, the hill was in perfect shape thanks to early snow production.

The tour now moves on to Ruka (FIN) where two individual competitions will be held on 29th and 30th November as part of the Nordic Opening.