Ryoyu Kobayashi prevents Andreas Stjernen's fairytale career end
Mar 14, 2019·Ski Jumping
Ryoyu Kobayashi won the FIS Ski Jumping World Cup in Trondheim (NOR) with jumps of 141 m and 141.5 m and 298.4 points ahead of local hero Andreas Stjernen (288.0 points) and Stefan Kraft of Austria (280.5 points). For Andreas Stjernen, this second place in his final competition was an emotional career end with a performance on a very high level.
Today's triumph was the 12th win this win for Ryoyu Kobayashi, who has already crowned himself overall World Cup champion last weekend in Oslo. Kobayashi is now among the elite circle of ski jumpers who could claim 12 or more World Cup wins in a single season. "I can't say much, but I'm really, really happy. I love this hill here in Trondheim. I've been looking forward to the competitions in Vikersund for a long time and I hope I can fly very far there", explained the 22-year-old Japanese who scored valuable points for the overall ranking of the Raw Air. He is now second, less than 10 points behind Austria's Stefan Kraft.
"This was a great competition. I didn't expect to be on the podium today after the first jump. The second jump was better, but still not perfect. I'm definitely looking forward to the Raw Air final, Vikersund is always special. The fight for the overall title will be exciting until the end because all three of us (Kobayashi, Johansson, and Kraft) are good ski flyers", said Stefan Kraft.
The man of the day was without a doubt Andreas Stjernen from Trondheim. In front of 10 000 enthusiastic fans, today's event was a perfect farewell for the Ski Flying World Cup winner of last season and team Olympic champion from PyeongChang. The second place was more than Stjernen himself and the fans expected from the 30-year-old. "It was my dream to finish on the podium when I decided to end my career here. It's a great feeling that I was able to achieve that. My family is here, my little daughter and my girlfriend, it's a perfect way to retire", said Stjernen, who was celebrated by fellow ski jumpers of all nations when he left the outrun through the exit gate. Head coach Alexander Stoeckl even had tears in his eyes in light of the success and the career end of Stjernen.
Robert Johansson finished tenth today and is now third in the overall ranking of the Raw Air. The German athletes could fight for the win today, but Richard Freitag, Karl Geiger, and Markus Eisenbichler achieved good results in seventh, eighth and ninth.
The Raw Air will now end with the final Ski Flying event in Vikersund. The teams travel from Trondheim to Oslo this evening with a charter flight, then they will go from Oslo to the hotel in Drammen per bus.
A team competition will be held in Vikersund on Saturday, followed by an individual event on Sunday. The weekend starts with the training and qualification on Friday at 3 pm CET (training) and 5:30 pm CET (qualification).
