Austria’s Stefan Kraft won the qualification for the FIS Ski Flying World Championships in Vikersund (NOR) on Thursday. With a jump of 230 m, he came in ahead of his teammate Michael Hayboeck (233 m) and Slovenia’s Anze Lanisek.
Two training rounds and one qualification round were held on the first day of the 2022 Ski Flying World Championships in Vikersund. After the two training rounds in perfect conditions, the teams had to be reduced to four competitors each, only Germany had 5 spots in the qualification because Karl Geiger is the defending champion.
The team of Slovenia was especially strong in training today. With Lovro Kos and Cene Prevc, two athletes who jumped very strong in training could still not get a spot on the team. Timi Zajc, Anze Lanisek, Domen Prevc, and Peter Prevc were just too good this afternoon and so they were named to the Slovenian team.
In the qualification, the Slovenians came in third (Lanisek), fourth (Domen Prevc, eleventh (Zajc), and 16th (Peter Prevc). Slovenia is the top contender for gold in Sunday’s team competition.
For the individual competition, which consists of four rounds (two on Friday and two on Saturday), Stefan Kraft is the top contender. After his 230 m jump, Kraft said: “This was a really cool day. My first jump was not that perfect, the second was really good and the one in the qualification was great as well. I’m really looking forward to the weekend here in Vikersund.” Whoever wants to become Ski Flying World Champion, has to beat Stefan Kraft.
The German team also showed a strong performance. With the places six (Karl Geiger), eight (Constantin Schmid), ten (Andreas Wellinger), and 13 (Markus Eisenbichler) today, they are among the favorites to win a team medal, in the individual event, Karl Geiger is a contender for the podium.
The best of the Norwegians, who are the defending team World Champions, was Marius Lindvik in fifth. Slovenia, Austria, Germany, and the Norwegians will fight for the medals in the team competition.
The first competition round on Friday starts at 4:30 pm CET.
