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Michael Hayböck suffered the same fate at the World Ski Flying Championships in Planica on Saturday as his missing roommate Stefan Kraft in January 2018 at the previous World Championships in Oberstdorf. After four rounds (245.5, 217, 237.5, 220.5m), the 29-year-old from Upper Austria narrowly missed bronze with fourth place. Gold went to German Karl Geiger just 0.5 points ahead of Norway’s Halvor Egner Granerud. Geiger’s compatriot Markus Eisenbichler took the bronze.
“I’m not quite sure if I should be happy or upset for a moment. The fact that the second jump was not so harmonious again, that’s ten meters from you, ”explained Hayböck in the ORF TV interview. There was a little “corner” in the jump after the jump. After overcoming the initial disappointment, you will soon realize that it was a good performance. “Straight out of quarantine and a corona infection to fight for medals in the ski flight, I can be proud of that. So the annoyance will be brief.”
In hindsight, it’s also bitter that Hayböck, fourth at halftime, made his way to a point over Eisenbichler after Saturday’s third flight. “The first round was brilliant again, it was again one of my best ski flights.” His direct opponent for the bronze, however, landed on the last flight at 230 meters, before Hayböck only at 220.5. In the end, Upper Austria was 14.2 points behind the medal table.
Of course, there was great jubilation after the spectatorless World Cup competition among the Germans trained by Tyrolean Stefan Horngacher for gold and bronze. In the end, the new Geiger world champion also had a bit of luck. “It’s really brutal, I don’t even know what to say. I’m very happy “. On the narrow lead: “I was really shaking and I knew I was going to be close. I skipped the green line, but it was tight and then you have to wait, what is the wind calculation, what are the posture marks, “said Geiger, describing the moments of anxiety after his last flight.
For Geiger it was the first major individual title, but in 2019 at the Seefeld World Championships he had already won team and mixed gold and had become world vice champion on the big hill. For the DSV he won the first world ski flying title since Severin Freund 2014. However, Hayböck has to wait for the first precious metal of his career. As expected, it was not enough for the other two Austrians to achieve the maximum result. Philipp Aschenwald and Gregor Schlierenzauer could not improve from the break and remained in positions 18 and 26 respectively.
For the team competition on Sunday (4pm / ORF 1 live), the Austrians are not contenders for a medal in the absence of Stefan Kraft, who failed due to back problems. “It will be a difficult task as a team. It can be said, of course, that we can’t use unlimited resources, ”Hayböck explained. He will “take” all three flights on Sunday in a season that is just beginning for him. The Austrian team consists of the aforementioned trio and substitute Timon-Pascal Kahofer.
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