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Watch Saturday’s qualifying match in Innsbruck on TV 2 and Sumo from 1:20 PM.
Halvor Egner Granerud finished second in the New Years jump race at Garmisch-Partenkirchen on Friday.
– The golden eagle is the prize you love the most along with the world championship and the Olympic gold. Being this close and offering good enough competition to win is a bit bitter, but I’m happy with the day anyway, the 24-year-old tells TV 2.
Granerud took the lead in the overall standings, just over four points ahead of German Karl Geiger. Geiger, who led the jumping week after the inaugural race in Oberstdorf, was not 100 percent successful on Friday. He finished fifth.
– We have good opportunities. We have an athlete who has been at the top after two races. Now we go to Innsbruck. I look forward. I feel like it’s a hill that we’ve delivered well with several, and Halvor is still in good shape, riding with his pace and seems relaxed. There is nothing to indicate that it will not do the same in Innsbruck and Bischofshofen, says national team coach Alexander Stöckl on TV 2.
– Have you had a better starting point during your time as national coach?
– No, I am not sorry, especially when an athlete is in such good shape and has completed race after race. This is the best starting point we’ve had in many years, says Stöckl.
The previous Norwegian mare to win was Anders Jacobsen in 2006/07.
Bakkerekord
Strong Granerud made two very good jumps of 137 and 136 meters.
Only reigning jumping champion Dawid Kubacki from Poland managed to punish. He landed 144 meters in his second jump and won the race with 7.2 points. Kubacki also set a record in the hills.
– Kubacki made a very good jump and had a bit of luck with the wind at the bottom. Then it turned more and more later, before it turned too much for Halvor to drive. He had to wait and do a test jump, and then it became completely silent again. He’s a bit typical, but he made a fantastic leap and a well deserved leader. He deserves a victory for Kubacki when he sets a record in land records, says Stöckl.
– I heard the length of Kubacki, and then I realized that it was something strange when they held him for so long. He wasn’t very fat, but he really didn’t do much, says Granerud.
Pole Piotr Zyla finished third.
Beaten teeth
Johann André Forfang became Garmisch’s second best Norwegian. He landed at 128.5 on his good first jump and followed with 132 on the second. Thus, the Tromsø resident was able to enjoy an uplifting ninth place.
Daniel-André Tande had big problems when he landed in 60 meters in the training round at Garmisch on Thursday, and on Friday there was a new boom with 75 meters in the test.
In the race, however, the Kongsberg boy climbed dramatically. 126 meters in the first round and a solid second jump of 127.5 meters placed 15th in Olympiabakken.
Upgrade for Johansson
Robert Johansson got off to a strong start to jumping week when he failed to qualify for the final round of the opening race at Oberstdorf. Friday was better. 124.5 meters in the first round became 127.5 meters and moved up the results list in the second. In the end, Søre Ål’s jumper was number 18.
Jumping rookie Sander Vossan Eriksen had to settle for a jump on Friday after being beaten in the Norwegian duel against Halvor Egner Granerud in the first half.
Marius Lindvik was the best in the Norwegians’ summary after the inaugural race at Oberstdorf, but the Rælingen jumper never started at Garmisch due to having to undergo surgery for a swollen wisdom tooth on Thursday.
