1-2 finish for Japan in Hinzenbach
Sep 26, 2021·Ski Jumping
The ski jumpers of Japan provided for a huge surprise in the second-to-last competition of the FIS Grand Prix 2021. Yukiya Sato won the exciting competition on Saturday in Hinzenbach (AUT) ahead of Ryoyu Kobayashi, who was considered the top favorite, and Germany's Karl Geiger.
Yukiya Sato posted jumps of 91 m and 87.5 m (246.7 points) in the two competition rounds, which earned him a lead of 1.6 points over his teammate Kobayashi, who jumped 0.5 shorter than Sato in both rounds. For both, Sato and Kobayashi, this was the first appearance in this year's Grand Prix.
"I'm very happy that I could win here today, but I'm also surprised. I'm looking forward to Klingenthal next weekend, I don't know if I can win there again, maybe it will be Ryoyu's turn", today's winner said after his success.
Ryoyu Kobayashi was self-confident after his second place: "This was my first competition this season and I'm satisfied with my performance. If I will be in this shape in winter I can win in the World Cup again. I'm excited to compete in Klingenthal and my goal is to win there", said Kobayashi, who won the overall World Cup title in the 2018/19 season.
The third place went to Karl Geiger, who has already shown convincing performances in yesterday's training and qualification. He jumped on 85.5 m and 88 m. "I'm really happy about my performance today. I have been jumping well the whole weekend after I was struggling a bit in the recent weeks. This is a special hill, I think it's the smallest that we jump on, you have to jump really well and make a good telemark", explained Geiger.
Today's win was the first for Yukiya Sato in the Grand Prix, so far the second place in Hakuba 2019 was his best result.
To the joy of the many fans in Hinzenbach, local hero Markus Schiffner finished fourth, only 0.3 points behind Schiffner, Andreas Wellinger was back among the best and finished fifth. With a performance like this, Wellinger is already one of the favorites for the competition next weekend in Klingenthal again.
Cene Prevc was the best of the Slovenes in sixth, the two Poles Piotr Zyla and Dawid Kubacki were seventh and eighth.
Norway's Halvor Egner Granerud (300 points) leads the overall ranking of the Grand Prix ahead of Austrian Jan Hoerl (225 points).
The final event of the FIS Grand Prix 2021 takes place next weekend in Klingenthal.
