Ski jumping: Wellinger best German in the qualification – power wins

Five of the seven German ski jumpers have qualified for the first of two ski flying events at the Raw Air Tour in Vikersund. Victory went to Stefan Kraft, who scored important points in the overall standings.

Ski flying – that always means spectacular jumps. Stefan Kraft delivered one of these on Friday (March 17th, 2023), sailing 239 meters in perfect conditions. The Austrian not only secured the qualification win, but also reported back with important points in the overall ranking of the Raw Air series.

Michael Hayboeck also presented himself surprisingly strong, even flying half a meter further than his compatriot. However, he was awarded a whopping 15 points less for his attempt. Third was Halvor Egner Granerud with 238 meters. The Norwegian continues to lead the tour with strength after 13 of 18 jumps. Its projection is about 18.5 meters.

Of the seven German starters, Andreas Wellinger flew the furthest. The runner-up at the World Championships delivered 227.5 meters on the “Monsterbakken”, the largest ski flying hill in the world, and came eleventh. Markus Eisenbichler (18th), Karl Geiger (28th), Constantin Schmid (32nd) and Justin Lisso (40th) also qualified for the competition on Saturday.

Wellinger and Eisenbichler solid

Wellinger had to go with a tailwind, but did a very solid job. Despite the bad conditions, he pulled his flight down to 227.5 meters. Markus Eisenbichler also had a good time with the hill record from Lillehammer. The man from Siegsdorf came clean off the take-off, landed after 215.5 meters and looked very happy in the run-out.

Geiger initially had to be patient until the jury finally gave him the go-ahead due to changing winds – albeit two hatches lower than the jumpers in front of him. His take-off from the take-off table was very flat, but he was still able to save his flight at 184.5 meters. Schmid was also able to breathe a sigh of relief after a completely unsuccessful training jump (130 meters). When it came down to it, the 23-year-old added more than 50 meters and landed after 188.5 meters.

Lisso narrowly qualified – Raimund and Leyhe unlucky

Lisso and Philipp Raimund had to tremble for the qualification. After the recent strong results, Lisso was anything but satisfied with his 181.5 meters. Nevertheless, he just slipped into the competition on Saturday as 40th. Unfortunately, 177 meters shouldn’t be enough for Raimund, who didn’t get good conditions. In the end he was missing one place for the qualification.

Leyhe is also only a spectator on Saturday. In the last few weeks, the Willinger has hardly been able to gain self-confidence. This time he was also unlucky with a tailwind, which forced him to land at 168 meters – 45th place.

Twice ski flying to finish

On Saturday (4.30 p.m. in the sports show live stream) the first of two competitions for the men will take place in Vikersund, before the end of the Raw Air Tour with qualification and the second ski flying from “Monsterbakken” follows a day later. The women are also in action in Vikersund on Sunday and are celebrating their premiere in ski flying. From a German perspective, Katharina Althaus, Selina Freitag and Anna Rupprecht have qualified for the highlight.