Local hero Halvor Egner Granerud won the first of two Ski Flying World Cups in Vikersund (NOR) on Saturday. Granerud prevailed ahead of the two Austrians Stefan Kraft and Daniel Tschofenig. Granerud came a good step closer to success in the overall World Cup and success in the RAW AIR overall ranking with his victory.
The overall World Cup is as good as secured for Granerud after his success today. Granerud leads with 1978 points ahead of Poland’s Dawid Kubacki (today’s 8th place) with 1592 points with four competitions still to go. The overall of the RAW AIR, on the other hand, is still open with three scoring rounds still to go. Granerud leads with 28.5 points, which can be made up in ski flying already in a single round.
“It feels really good, today was a really good jumping, it was really nice flights, just a great competition. I was so nervous waiting for the result in the last round, because Vikersund is a special place for every Norwegian and I think it is the most important single weekend for us ski jumpers in Norway and it is fantastic and I met so many friends and my family” explained the visibly overwhelmed Granerud.
The RAW AIR is far from being decided even for the leader:” Stefan is jumping incredibly well and I have to jump really well to keep him behind me tomorrow” said Granerud.
Kraft had caused the scare of the day in the trial round with a spectacular fall after a flight to 249 meters. Kraft got the doctors’ permission to start after his fall and then provided an unbelievable performance in the competition: only minutes after his crash the man from Salzburg took out the hammer again and flew to 239 meters – unbelievable.
“It was a really close fight with Halvor today, I did a really good job and after the crash in the training round I’m really proud of myself that I kept the focus and the fight with Halvor and I think I still have a little chance.
There was so much adrenaline in my body. I was so impressed with my jump and it was really hard to keep the focus and do an aggressive jump, but then the competition was still really nice. I will get up early tomorrow and hope my body feels fit. The fall was really a hard impact, but Halvor is extremely stable and strong. I’m also happy with second place, but it’s not over until it’s over and I’m going to try” Kraft gave himself a “combative” attitude.
Third place went to Daniel Tschofenig who is getting better and better and whose girlfriend Alexandria Loutitt had already set a new world record (222 meters) in the women’s event in the morning.
Fourth place went to Japan’s Ryoyu Kobayashi ahead of Anze Lanisek and Michael Hayböck.
The second competition for the men is scheduled for Sunday. With another victory Halvor Egner Granerud could already decide the overall World Cup ranking for himself. The competition starts at 16:00.
