Kobayashi and Eisenbichler on top again
Jan 01, 2019·Ski Jumping
Ryoyu Kobayashi of Japan won the New Year's competition in Garmisch-Partenkirchen with jumps of 136.5 m and 133 m (266.6 points) ahead of Markus Eisenbichler of Germany (264.7 points) and Poland's Dawid Kubacki (256.2 points).
22-year-old Japanese Ryoyu Kobayashi remains the dominating athlete of the 67th 4-Hills-Tournament. The currently best ski jumper proved his outstanding skills also in the second 4-Hills competition in Garmisch-Partenkirchen. Kobayashi won 1.9 points ahead of the, once again, extremely strong Markus Eisenbichler. After his second win, Kobayashi can still become the third Grand Slam winner in history.
"I didn’t think about anything, I just jumped. In the second round, I noticed that the conditions were not that good, but I did my best. I only think about having a good next jump, nothing else", explained Kobayashi, for whom this was the sixth World Cup win (he took all of them this season). This winter's highflyer was on the podium in eight of the nine individual competitions and with 756 points he has a clear lead over the two Poles Piotr Zyla (509 points) and Kamil Stoch (437 points) in the overall World Cup.
While the second win of the Japanese was almost expected, Markus Eisenbichler proved with his second place that he is in the best shape of his life. "Eisei" has never been this strong. In this shape, it's even possible for Eisenbichler to come in ahead of the outstanding Ryoyu Kobayashi, if he should make a small mistake. "It is really amazing to start the new year like this. The first jump was already really good and in the second round, I did quite well again. It is one of my biggest goals to win a World Cup one day and now it was really close twice. Today I thought it might be enough. Now I just have to continue jumping well and then I might be able to beat Kobayashi or someone else", said Eisenbichler.
After his third place today, Dawid Kubacki is now also third in the 4-Hills-Tournament overall ranking, 20.6 points behind the second-placed Eisenbichler. "I’m really satisfied with my jumps because I’m on the right track and it’s getting better day by day. For me it was a very nice day, I’m happy about the result and the jumps and I just keep on working to get better. This is my first podium this winter, and also this year, and I think it will not be the last one", said an obviously satisfied Dawid Kubacki. Kamil Stoch in sixth, Piotr Zyla in 11th and Jakub Wolny in 13th completed the strong result of the Polish team.
Team Japan is thriving
With the older Kobayashi brother Junshiro in fifth, the Kobayashi's not only achieved a great family result, the Japanese team, in general, showed an impressive performance with Daiki Ito in 12th and Yukiya Sato in 17th. Head coach Hideharu Miyahira turned everything inside out and now he gets rewarded for his great job.
The German team also did well again. Besides Eisenbichler, Stephan Leyhe (7th), David Siegel (17th) and Karl Geiger (19th) achieved good results. Richard Freitag was seventh after the first round but lost some ground with a weaker second jump.
Stefan Kraft out
For Austria's Stefan Kraft, the fight for the overall title is over after his 49th place today. Kraft landed already after 114 m in the first round and failed to qualify for the final of the Top 30.
Only Timi Zajc and Anze Semenic reach the final
The two days in Garmisch-Partenkirchen were everything but satisfying. Youngster Timi Zajc achieved a convincing result in eighth, Anze Semenis was 27th. Peter and Domen Prevc could not make the cut for the competition in 61st and 64 in yesterday's qualification.
Overall ranking 4-Hills-Tournament:
1. Ryoyu Kobayashi, Japan, 548.9 points
2. Markus Eisenbichler, Germany, 546.6 points
3. Dawid Kubacki, Poland, 526.0 points
Overall World Cup:
1. Ryoyu Kobayashi, Japan - 756 points
2. Piotr Zyla, Poland - 509 points
3. Kamil Stoch, Poland - 437 points
The third competition of the 67th 4-Hills-Tournament takes place on Friday at 2 pm CET in Innsbruck (AUT). The qualification starts on Thursday at 2 pm CET.
