Richard Freitag wins exciting ski flying competition
Local hero Richard Freitag won the exciting event in Oberstdorf by only 0.3 points! The German reached 409.8 points and was followed by Andreas Stjernen (409.5 points) and Gregor Schlierenzauer (409 points).
Richard Freitag captured the lead already after his first flight on 209 m. In the final the German posted a jump on 206.5 m and waited in suspense for the overall result. At the end, the 21-year old could celebrate his second World Cup win in front of his home crowd.
"It already went well in training and in the qualification. I think that I achieved this result because we were working really hard over the last couple of weeks. I hope that this will also be a boost for the World Championships. Now I'm looking forward to tomorrow. Everyone will enjoy the jumps again, but many teams are jumping very well right now. Winning a ski flying competition here in front of the home crowd is a good feeling", told Freitag.
Andreas Stjernen (205.5 and 212 m) came in close behind the winner with a total of 409.5 points. The Norwegian lost to the German by the tiny margin of only 0.3 points, but he achieved his first podium result in the World Cup. "It was a great day, honestly I'm a bit surprised that I landed on the podium. This hill is great, you are not high over the knoll and that's good for me. I have to try to achieve such good results also on normal hills. If we jump well as a team tomorrow then we have a realistic chance to win the Team Tour."
Gregor Schlierenzauer continues his streak of third places. With a jump on 206.5 m he could move up from the fourth to third in the final round and repeated his result from Klingenthal. "It was a really nice ski flying competition today. My first jump was not so good, the second one was better. We will give our best again on Sunday, even if Slovenia already has a good lead and the Norwegians are also doing well."
Besides the overall World Cup leader, also the other Austrian jumpers scored World Cup points on Saturday. Stefan Kraft finished eleventh (199 and 205.5 m; 390.8 points), his more experienced teammates, Wolfgang Loitzl (15th) and Martin Koch (19th) were also in the Top 20. Michael Hayboeck finished 27th.
Germans fight for double win
Richard Freitag was not the only German among the best ten athletes. Severin Freund (202.5 and 203.5 m; 395.1 points) and Michael Neumayer (202.5 and 202.5 m; 392.5 points) came in 9th and 10th. Karl Geiger, who took part in the ski flying event for the first time in his career, was 20th. After such a strong team performance the local heroes among the favorites for the team event tomorrow. Only newcomer Andreas Wellinger could not show his best performance. With 172 m (153.8 points) the youngest athlete of the competition came in 35th.
The Norwegian team might be the biggest rival of the Germans in tomorrow’s event. Andreas Stjernen and his teammates Anders Jacobsen (203.5 and 206 m; 402.3 points) and Tom Hilde (206 and 203 m; 397.5 points) reached the Top 10. Anders Bardal and Kim Rene Elverum Sorsell completed the impressive performance of Norway as 16th and 17th.
First points for Nurmsalu
With his 26th place Kaarel Nurmsalu reached his first World Cup points. The Estonian showed a consistent performance with 196 m and 184 m and 358.3 points. Vincent Descombes Sevoie of France again did very well on a ski flying-hill. After jumps on 197.5 m and 198 m he came in 21st. The French also achieved Top 30 finishes in Vikersund and Harrachov. Vladimir Zografski presented himself for the first time at such a big hill and reached a good result. The Bulgarian could cross the 200 m line twice and earned 389.7 points. The 19-year old was 12th.
Seven personal bests
Seven jumpers could set their new personal bests in Saturday’s competition. Austrian Stefan Kraft (205.5 m) and Vladimir Zografski (204 m) of Bulgaria reached the magical mark of 200 m. Local hero Karl Geiger reached 195 m in the final round and improved his personal best by 0.5 m. Japanese Reruhi Shimizu could not cross the K-Point with 183 m. Also two Poles and one Finn made the longest flights of their life: Krzysztof Biegun (180 m), Barlomiej Klusek (158.5 m) and Sami Heiskanen (172m).
Slovenia has a good chance to win € 100 000,-
Slovenia could defend the leader’s position in the FIS Team Tour after the individual competition in Oberstdorf. The team of head coach Goran Janus now has a total of 2302 points. Norway (2257.2 points) and Austria (2254.2 points) fight for the second place. With a strong performance on Sunday, the Germans, who scored 2227.2 points, can catch up with them and achieve a podium finish.
Schlierenzauer still on top
Gregor Schlierenzauer gets closer to his second World Cup Overall win. The Austrian scored 1320 points and has a good lead ahead of Anders Bardal (782 points) and Anders Jacobsen (732 points). Severin Freund (699 points) of Germany is fourth. Richard Freitag, who won the today’s race, could move up to the 7th place.