Halvor Egner Granerud from Norway is the winner of the Ski Jumping World Cup for the second time. He was sure of winning trophies even before today at Vikingsund, which Pole Dawid Kubacki did not enter. On the Granerud giant bridge, he was not enough for Stefan Kraft from Austria, and at the same time dominated the sixth edition of the Raw Air Tour miniseries.
Although world record holder Kraft made the longest attempt of the day at 246.5 meters in the first over, Granerud led by nine points, flying 234 meters from the lower approach. In the final, unlike Saturday’s race, he did not defend first place. The Austrian added another long effort of 235.5 meters in harsh windy conditions, while the 26-year-old Norwegian managed only 219 meters and lost by 7.6 points in the final tally. Kraft claimed his fourth win of the season. Slovene Anže Lanišek finished third.
According to the national association, Kubacki missed the second air race at Vikersund due to personal reasons, and it was clear before qualifying that he could not threaten the series leader for the rest of the season. Jumpers are waiting for one more race in Lahti and, finally, two flights in Planica.
Granerud won the big crystal ball the previous year. This season, the twenty-six year old jumper has won 12 World Cup races so far. If he dominates the remaining three races he will equal the record held by Slovenian Peter Prevec. In January, he also enjoyed his first Tour of Four Bridges win.
Granerud won the Norwegian bridge Raw Air Tour mini-series, which included all jumps including qualification at the Oslo, Lillehammer and Vikersund races, with an 18.2 point lead over Kraft. He collected a bonus of 50,000 euros for the win.
WC over the years skiing in Vikersund (Norway):
Man: 1. Kraft (Austria) 497.4 b.(246.5+235.5 m), 2. Granerud (Nor.) 489.8 (234+219), 3. Lanišek (Slovenia) 468.8 ( 231+ 220.5), 4. Hayböck (Austria) 467.6 (223.5+231), 5. D. Formerly (Slovenia) 451.8 (240.5+200), 6. Johansson (Nor .) 448, 4(234+211).
Final standings of the Raw Air Tournament (after 12 contests): 1. Granerud 2932.0, 2. Kraft 2913.8, 3. Lanišek 2784.4, …69. Koudelka (Czech Republic) 274.7.
Current SP order (after 29 of 32 races): 1. Granerud 2058, 2. Kubacki (Poland) 1592, 3. Kraft 1550, 4. Lanišek 1474, 5. R. Kobajaši (Japan) 911, 6. Žyla (Poland) 895, …65. Koudelka 11, 83. Shovel (CZ) 1.
Women (race not included in the SP standings):
1. Klinecová (Slovenia) 414.7 b.(226+223.5 m), 2. Opsethová (Nor.) 373.7 (211+207), 3. Itoová (Japan) 352.6 (200.5+ 190), 4. Althausová (Germany ) 347.4 (194+190), 5. Loutittová (Can.) 339.5 (172.5+225), 6. Lundbyová (Nor.) 328.0 ( 186+184 ,5).
Raw Air Tournament final standings (after 9 competitions): 1. Klinecová 1859.6, 2. Althausová 1771.5, 3. Freitagová (Germany) 1704.3, …43. Ulrich 404.2, 48. K. Indrakova (both Czech Republic) 211.8.
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