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The world record holder (253.5m) had to move on to individual competition, but Upper Austria was positioned as a medal contender. After two out of four rounds, Hayböck, reaching 245.5 and 217m, was fourth. Only 2.8 points or 2.5 m separated him from a podium. The leader of the break was the German Karl Geiger (241 / 223.5).
“The starting position is great,” said Hayböck, who had already been second in the standings. However, everything remains “a bit surreal” for him, the 29-year-old said on ORF television. After a positive corona test and the next quarantine, only a negative test in the last minute allowed participation. After the first flight he was second with a personal best. “Everything went well together, I almost felt a bit uncomfortable, I already looked flat,” said the Salzburg resident, summing up the first round. On the second attempt there was no updraft, Hayböck recorded the shortest flight of the top eight.
However, the winner of five World Cup ski jumping competitions is in the running for the first individual medal of his career. He has six pieces at home in the new Rif building near Salzburg, four times silver and two times bronze with the team at the big events. His best result in the World Championship in ski flight is eleventh in 2016 in the Kulm. Third, Kraft had won the last ÖSV medal on the biggest hill.
On Friday, however, Hayböck didn’t think about the medal, his thoughts after infection, quarantine and missed training were more about fitness. “These flights are pretty tough if the preparation is not what you would like it to be,” Hayböck explained. “But I’ll do my best to make sure I’m in top form on Saturday (4pm / ORF 1 live, note).”
World Cup winner Kraft was far from in top form on Thursday and Friday. In the 27-year-old, back problems had become acute again, which had already severely restricted him during preparation. In the opening game of the World Cup in Wisla everything had gone well, Kraft took the recent complaints to the start “from zero to one hundred” after the mandatory break and the very short-term green light only on Wednesday after a test of negative crown.
“The pain is generalized in the pelvis, back and groin, I can’t say a point,” Kraft told ORF, before traveling to Innsbruck on Friday afternoon for detailed examinations. He held a team competition open on Sunday: “If I feel ready at lunch on Saturday, I’d like to come.” A healthy force would be needed if the team of head trainer Andreas Widhölzl, the former world vice champion of ski flying, wants to get involved in precious metals. Besides Geiger, Germany has other strong jumpers with Markus Eisenbichler (220/247 m), Pius Paschke (11th) and Constantin Schmid (13th), who are initially third. Eisenbichler sailed at the maximum distance of the day on the second attempt and was already cheering when he left. “That was a grenade!”
Defending champions Norway, led by Halvor Egner Granerud (221 / 229.5) and Robert Johansson (5th), as well as Poland with Piot Zyla (7th) and Kamil Stoch (8th) were well positioned. In the ÖSV team, Tyrolean Philipp Aschenwald (201.5 / 218) as 18th and Gregor Schlierenzauer (193 / 199.5) as 26th had to catch up. Flight rookie Timon-Pascal Kahofer, who was shortly nominated for Kraft, had not qualified for further flights at 34th after the first round.
