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Michael Hayböck was fourth in the standings for the opening of the World Cup in Wisla and was the highest-ranked Austrian on Friday. The 29-year-old, who had indicated his improvement in training before the World Cup winter, landed at 127 meters (121.1 points). The best was Polish hometown hero Kamil Stoch with 132 meters (135.3). World Cup winner Stefan Kraft was only ÖSV’s fifth best jumper (118m / 108.3) in 22nd place before the team competition on Saturday (4pm, live on ORF1).
All six Austrians participate in the individual competition on Sunday (4pm, live on ORF1). Daniel Huber performed well in qualifying in ninth (121.5m / 117.1) and Jan Hörl in eleventh (122m / 114.3) immediately ahead of Philipp Aschenwald (119m / 113.8). Gregor Schlierenzauer qualified 29th (115m / 103.3).
Neo’s head coach Andreas Widhölzl nominated the Hayböck, Aschenwald, Huber and Kraft quartet for the team competition that the ÖSV jumpers had won last year. “It was a very positive start, I think we are competitive,” said Widhölzl. “It’s good for athletes, they don’t need to do anything special, with what they can do, they can jump to the front.”
