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Michael Hayböck is surprisingly fourth in the world ski-flying championship in Planica (Slo) after two out of four rounds, just 8.3 points behind German halftime leader Karl Geiger.
“It’s a bit surreal,” said the Kirchberg-Theninger native, behind whose mouth and nose a broad smile hid. The 29-year-old preferred to search for meters rather than big words. He found the first in the first round as he left behind the mighty ski jumping hill at Planica as he navigated to a personal best distance of 245.5 meters. The enormous amount of air that Hayböck had in the last flight section detracted even him: “I only saw the surface of the run-out.” Therefore, the area in which the risk of injury on landing is high. Hayböck not only dominated the landing, but also impressed the judges with a touch of telemark.
The privilege of jumping
The fact that his 217-meter flight dropped him from second to fourth intermediate position in the second round did not affect Hayböck’s good humor. After all, it was no wonder that a decision had been made two days earlier as to whether she would be allowed to go to Planica. Since the season opened three weeks ago, the corona virus has been circulating on the ÖSV jumping field. Hayböck also tested positive and missed the World Cup stations in Ruka (Fin) and Nizhny Tagil (Rus). Although in good shape, he had to watch from the quarantine how the competition won and surpassed each other. “After the uncertainty of the last few days, I am happy to be able to jump here,” said Hayböck.
With this ease he blows today (from 16 hours live on ORF 1) to attack from the podium, which Geiger leads 4.6 points ahead of Halvor Egner Granerud (Nor). Third-placed Markus Eisenbichler (D), who set the daily maximum distance of 247 meters, is just 2.8 points behind Upper Austria. The other Austrians have nothing to do with the decision: Philipp Aschenwald is 18th and Gregor Schlierenzauer 26th. (may)
Question mark in force
Yesterday it was unclear in which line-up the Austrian Eagles will fly tomorrow in the final team competition. Stefan Kraft traveled to the Tyrol for exams due to recent acute back and groin pain. ÖSV officials did not rule out a team effort by the outright World Cup winner.
