Kubacki has done it again! Unbelievable form of the Pole just before TCS

Sunday’s competition in the Swiss Alps, held earlier due to the final of the football world championship, was a real sine wave for both Polish and foreign fans. Due to the time of day, the wind conditions on Grosse Titlis changed quite dynamically, which introduced an element of lottery to the competition.

Failed qualification

For us, the qualifying before the competition was not particularly successful. Although the iron trio of leaders confidently advanced to the competition, Tomasz Pilch, who was in poor shape, failed to do so, and Pawe Wsek, completing the season of his life, was disqualified for an unregulated suit.

A small lottery

The first competition series was marked by both very short and extremely long jumps. This was due to the changing strength of the back wind, which again did not allow a large group of competitors to fly away even to the vicinity of point K. In the first part of the competition, the differences in discounts for gusts in the back differed the most. For example, Danił Vasiliev, starting with number 15, had only 0.3 points added to his score, and Jakub Wolny, who jumped with plastron number 5, received a discount of 13.3 points.

Unfortunately for Polish fans, both Wolny and Aleksander Zniszczol did not do very well. Ultimately, the first of them was placed in the last position, while the second one lacked 16 points to advance to the second competition series. The American Erik Belshaw, who was able to jump to thirty, performed very well.

Doomed to fire

Again, a group of players knocking at the top of the World Cup, but occupying mainly places in the second ten, can speak of bad luck. We are talking here, among others about Kamil Stoch, Ryoyu Kobayashi and Timi Zajc. In their case, the average wind indicators showed that the conditions were not bad. The problem, however, was the draft near the threshold, which did not give a chance to make a good attempt. Among other things, because of this, the third Polish representative said goodbye to the competition after giving one attempt.

Duel of the greats

The closer it got to the end of the first series, the better the conditions became. So the judges had to lower the inrun so that the strongest players in the field could safely land near the size of the hill. The decision of the referees was also influenced by the fall of Karl Geiger, who after landing at 140 meters did not keep his balance and had a closer encounter with the snow. Despite this, the German was classified in the second ten after the first round.

In the group of favorites to win, Manuel Fettner was the first to fire a real firecracker. The experienced Austrian, starting the inrun from the 13th beam, jumped 138 meters, taking the lead. From the same inrun, Piotr Żyła jumped 1.5 meters further, but he had slightly less added points for wind and lower marks for style. The attempt of the Pole, however, forced the judges to lower the run again. From beam 12, Stefan Kraft, Halvor Egner Granerud and Anze Lanisek made their attempts, but all three were unable to overtake Fettner and yy. Only Dawid Kubacki managed to do it, who jumped over the hill size of 140 meters by 1.5 meters and managed to take the lead before the final round.

An interesting finale

The beginning of the second series was very similar to the first series. Individual players had slightly worse or slightly better conditions, but you can’t talk about a big lottery. It was only during the jumps of the second ten that the conditions began to change a bit. The wind in the back began to change to sideways, which was used by, among others, Karl Geiger took the lead with a jump of 136.5 meters. Jan Hoerl also made a big advancement, after a failed first jump, he reached 133.5 meters in the second attempt, advancing by 10 places.

Quite unexpectedly, Giovanni Bresadola recorded his career record in Sunday’s competition. The Italian, having a real season of his life, jumped 134 meters in the second round, surpassing Karl Geiger. Considering the fact that David Jiroutek’s charge was classified in 10th position after the first series, the first “tenner” in the Italian’s career became true.

Bresadola was overtaken by Michael Hayboeck, eighth after the first round. The Austrian jumped 137 meters in a very good style, beating the Italian by 8.5 points and hoping for promotion. A few moments later, Anze Lanisek started the attack on the podium. The Slovenian, who is in great shape, landed on 142 meters, doing it in great style. This gave him more than 13 points advantage over Hayboeck, and forced the judges to lower the inrun.

The shorter raid did not impress Halvor Egner Graneruda. The Norwegian, despite the problems at the doorstep, jumped 137.5 meters, losing to the leading Slovenian by only 0.6 points. Unexpectedly, quite an average jump was shown by Stefan Kraft. The Austrian champion flew only 130 meters in the air, which gave him third place. Next on the starting list was Piotr Żyła, who managed in slightly more difficult conditions, jumping 134 meters. However, this did not allow him to overtake the top two, and this meant a fall from the podium.

With only two jumpers left on the mountain, the fans wondered if Manuel Fettner could handle the pressure and land far. Ultimately, he succeeded. A jump of 138 meters gave him the lead and a secure place on the podium. However, it was not enough to win. Dawid Kubacki made another very good jump. The Pole landed at 135 meters and 50 centimeters, which allowed him to overtake the experienced rival by 3.2 points.

In the general classification of the World Cup, Kubacki’s situation is getting better. The Pole has already scored 650 points after eight competitions, which is very impressive. The second Anze Lanisek is 74 points behind the leader, and the third Stefan Kraft is already 183 points behind. Piotr Żyła is fifth with 377 points. Kamil Stoch, in turn, is 14th with 122 points on his account.