Anders Jacobsen wins qualification at the final
Anders Jacobsen won the final qualification of the World Cup season 2012/13 in Planica. Only close behind the Norwegian, Antonin Hajek of the Czech Republic and Germany's Severin Freund shared the second place.
Under difficult and changing wind conditions a lot of patience was needed in the qualification and the round with 69 participants took about two hours. Jacobsen was the best at the end with his jump on 211 m and 199.6 points.
Only 0.1 points behind, Antonin Hajek (209 m) and Severin Freund (215.5 m) came in second. Both reached a total of 199.5 points.
Kasai with longest jump of the day
40-year-old veteran Noriaki Kasai of Japan showed the longest jump of the day with 217 m. He came in fourth with 198.4 points. Also his teammates Daiki Ito (14th), Yuta Watase (18th) and Taku Takeuchi (28th) will take part in Friday's competition.
Vincent Descombes Sevoie of France also showed a strong performance on Thursday with 211 m and a fifth place.
Not only Anders Jacobsen achieved a top result for Norway. Anders Fannemel and Anders Bardal came in sixth and seventh, Kim Rene Elverum Sorsell was 11th and Rune Velta 22nd. But it was a disappointing day for Tom Hilde, who failed to qualify as 37th.
The Top 10 on Thursday were completed by Czech Lukas Hlava (8th), Vladimir Zografski of Bulgaria (9th) and Poland's Maciej Kot (10th).
Besides Severin Freund, also the two German youngsters Andreas Wellinger (12th) and Karl Geiger (23rd) qualified for the competition. Andreas Wank (31st) and Marinus Kraus (44th) failed to make the cut.
Best Austrian in the qualification was Stefan Kraft as 17th, also Martin Koch and Manuel Fettner had no problem achieving a Top 30 result.
Gregor Deschwanden (18th), the lone Swiss competitor in Planica, and US American Nick Fairall (25th), who showed a great jump on 208 m, earned their spot in the first round.
Both Finns here in Planica, Olli Muotka and Lauri Asikainen, all all three Russians (Denis Kornilov, Roman Trofimov und Alexey Buyvolov) could not qualify.
Slovenes best of the pre-qualified
The longest jumps of the pre-qualified athletes were shown by the two Slovenes Jurij Tepes (216.5 m), who fell in training but fortunately didn't suffer any injuries, and Peter Prevc (206 m). World Champion Kamil Stoch and the two Germans Richard Freitag and Michael Neumayer didn't take part in the qualification.