Huber and Kvandal lead the RAW AIR

Austria’s Daniel Huber and Eirin Maria Kvandal from Norway won the first rounds of the RAW AIR 2024 on Friday evening, putting them in the lead in the overall Raw Air rankings.
Behind Huber were two Norwegians, Johann Andre Forfang and Marius Lindvik, while Silje Opseth (NOR) and Eva Pinkelnig (AUT) came second and third in the women’s competition.

The two qualifications at Holmenkollen in Oslo, which were also the first rounds of the RAW AIR, ended with little surprises for both the men and the women. 
“It was really cool, I feel very comfortable here and started the day really well. And I was also a bit nervous at the start of the qualification, because there are already points at stake for the overall standings,” explained Daniel Huber after his success. “I’m in a better physical condition than at the start of the season, it’s a lot of work but I’m also having a lot of fun and my setup is now perfect,” said Huber, for whom it was the first qualifying win of his career.
Huber leads the RAW AIR overall standings after the first of 16 competition jumps with 141.8 points ahead of Johann Andre Forfang (137.9) and Marius Lindvik (136.1). 

Behind the top 3, Peter Prevc once again impressed in fourth place and can be expected to do anything at this RAW AIR. In fifth place are Philipp Raimund and Nicolas Fettner, who are tied on points and now have good prospects going into the first competition of the RAW AIR on Saturday.

The situation is already more difficult for the three top favorites Ryoyu Kobayashi, Stefan Kraft and Andreas Wellinger. Kobayashi finished in 10th place, 13.7 points behind Huber, Wellinger was 15th (15.9 points behind Huber) and Kraft was 16th (17.4 points behind Huber). Not much, but a good start always has an important psychological effect in addition to the points.
Surprisingly, Stephan Leyhe from Germany in 52nd place did not make it into the competition which starts on Saturday at 14:40.
 

In the women’s competition, Eirin Maria Kvandal delivered an outstanding performance. Despite her coach shortening her inrun, Kvandal managed by far the longest distance (128.5 meters / 126.5 points) and thus the clear victory ahead of her teammate Silje Opseth (122.5 meters) and Eva Pinkelnig from Austria (121.5 meters)

With Katharina Schmid, Jacqueline Seifriedsberger, Sara Takanashi and World Cup leader Nika Prevc in places 4-7, all the top favorites landed in the front field of the round.
Accordingly, Kvandal leads the RAW AIR after the first of 16 jumps with 126.5 points ahead of Silje Opseth (118.4 points) and Eva Pinkelnig (117.2 points).
The first women’s competition at the Holmenkollen in Oslo starts on Saturday at 16:45.