[ad_1]
Austrian ski jumpers did not get on the podium in the second competition of the Four Hills Tournament. Philipp Aschenwald landed in the New Years competition in Garmisch-Partenkirchen as the best man from ÖSV in sixth place, the Tyrolean is now sixth in the overall standings. His teammates around Stefan Kraft, who crashed again as 28 earlier in the year, failed to make it to top field. Defending Tour champion Dawid Kubacki secured victory.
The Pole triumphed thanks to a new hill record of 144 meters in the second round, clearly ahead of Norway’s Halvor Egner Granerud. Former World Cup dominator took over the lead of the tour from Oberstdorf winner Karl Geiger, the German kept the damage within bounds after a weak first round (14th) in fifth place behind the two Poles Piotr Zyla and Kamil Stoch.
However, the former Kraft tour winner fell far back from 13th position due to his failed final jump. In Oberstdorf, the man from Salzburg was sixth. “Unfortunately that was a bad jump. I can’t say why it failed, unfortunately it didn’t work. All the other jumps were good, I don’t know where it’s coming from now, that really pissed me off, “said Kraft, lamenting the recent crash at Garmisch, where the 2015 tour winner had been in serious trouble for the past three years.
However, he is already looking forward to going to Innsbruck, emphasized the defending World Cup champion, who had been held back by a crown infection and back problems last winter. Aschenwald can certainly enter the home competition on Sunday much more positively after another position in the top ten. Zillertal were in good shape with two consistent jumps at Garmisch, but they had no chance against the best. “I am very satisfied with how the jumps went, but it bothered me for a moment because it was so close,” said the Zillertal man, who was less than three points from the podium, which is not too big.
The small gap with the best is encouraging. “It’s not much, maybe luck in Austria is on our side then,” said the 25-year-old confidently looking to the future. In the overall standings of the circuit, he is already more than 17 points behind Stoch, who is now third behind Granerud and Geiger. Between Aschenwald and Stoch, Kubacki and the German Markus Eisenbichler are also classified in the general classification.
New leader Granerud is more than 24 points ahead of Aschenwald, the Norwegian clearly lost his success on the first day of the tour to 7.2 points behind Kubacki, but improved with Oberstdorf (fourth). “Of course I wanted to win, but today I got a lot of points back,” said Alexander Stöckl’s protégé, who had five straight wins before the tour. Thanks to his record flight, Kubacki celebrated his fifth World Cup success, the first this winter after turbulence from the crown in the Polish camp before the start of the tour. “The win feels great, especially with the hill record. I’m very happy and I’m back in the game on the tour, ”said the defending champion, who was still disappointed with Oberstdorf as 15th.
As for Kraft, things didn’t go according to plan for the rest of the Austrians either. Although Daniel Huber finished 14th as ÖSV’s second best jumper, he put the next brake on Michael Hayböck after the disappointment at Oberstdorf. Fourth place in the World Ski Flying Championships missed the second round in 34th place. Last year’s Norwegian winner, Marius Lindvik, was absent at the start due to a wisdom tooth operation. Oberstdorf’s third hopes to return to Bischofshofen, but it is unlikely, according to his coach Stöckl.
