On Saturday afternoon the conditions at the hill in Willingen were definitely better than on Friday. The wind was still blowing under the skis, but definitely less so that the competition was not in jeopardy. Despite this, there was no shortage of small fragments with a small lottery in the men’s competition.
Equal competition
From the very beginning of the competition it was known that the judges approached the competition quite safely. The competitors started jumping from the 10th starting bar, which was a problem for the slightly weaker competitors. So we had to wait quite a long time for the first attempts at the construction point. To the delight of Polish fans, one of the first competitors with a very good result was Aleksander Zniszczoł, who after jumping on 139.5 meters was sure of promotion to the second series. A few minutes later, Paweł Wąsek jumped a little shorter, but he also secured another World Cup points.
Quite unexpectedly, another very good competition was scored by Giovanni Bresadola. The young Italian landed on 142 meters, which gave him the lead for a long time. Finally, after the first series of the competition, one of the revelations of the current season was ranked fifth.
Unfortunately, the conditions on the hill in Willingen can play tricks, even when they change really gently. The players who opened the competition after a short technical break found out about it. Among them was e.g. Markus Eisenbichler. The experienced German, after winning the qualification, slipped into the second round quite happily, jumping 127 meters in average conditions.
The closer it got to the end of the first series, the competition looked more and more interesting. He was convinced of this Piotr Żyła, who made a very good jump on 137 meters. The Pole, however, received slightly lower judges’ notes, which placed him in 11th place after the first series, with a loss of just over three points to the fourth Stefan Kraft.
An extraordinary show was made by the top three in the general classification of the World Cup. First, Anze Lanisek jumped as much as 150 meters, taking the lead with an advantage of almost 20 points. Dawid Kubacki presented himself a little worse, who after jumping on 147 meters was in second place. However, everyone was reconciled by Halvor Egner Granerud, who jumped 149.5 meters from the lower inrun, overtaking Anze Laniska by almost 6 points.
New deal
When the jumpers were getting ready to start the second round, the conditions on the hill in Willingen changed significantly. The wind under the skis changed to blowing in the back, which clearly made the competition difficult.
Despite the wind discount, Markus Eisenbichler decided to use his five minutes. After a jump of 134 meters, the German not only took the lead, but also held it longer than expected. His rivals, including Kamil Stoch and Paweł Wąsek had a problem with jumping to the construction point, giving the German a chance for a clear promotion.
He overtook his teammate Constantin Schmid only 20th after the first round. The younger of the Germans managed to jump 127.5 meters, which was enough to take the lead. However, both hosts of Saturday’s competition could count on an even greater promotion, as the conditions were still very difficult. Unfortunately, among the competitors who could not cope with the wind at the back was Aleksander Zniszczol, who after a jump of 119 meters clearly fell down in the classification.
The leader, Schmid, was replaced by Stephan Leyhe as the leader. The third German jumped exactly the same as his teammate, but thanks to the advantage from the first round, even with a lighter tailwind, he was in the lead. However, the experienced player did not enjoy it for long. Several dozen seconds later Michael Hayboeck overtook him, and everyone was reconciled by the next competitor. Timi Zajc.
The fight for high positions in the competition began with Johan Andre Forfang, twelfth after the first round. The Norwegian jumped as much as 135 meters, ahead of all competitors. A moment later, an even better jump was made by Piotr Żyła, who took the lead after an attempt at 138 meters, signaling his desire to advance to the top ten.
When the leading group of competitors entered the fight, Piotr ¯y³a’s jump looked even better. Ziga Jelar, Ryoyu Kobayashi, Andreas Wellinger, Philipp Raimund, Giovanni Bresadola, Karl Geiger and Stefan Kraft were unable to surpass the Pole, who managed to move up to fourth place in the final classification. The top three, however, were unattainable. First, Dawid Kubacki jumped 137 meters with a strong back wind, securing another place on the podium. A moment later, Anze Lanisek jumped even one meter further, who returned to the cup podium after a few weeks break. However, everyone was reconciled by Halvor Egner Granerud, who also jumped 138 meters, confidently winning the competition.
Ultimately, Saturday’s competition in Willingen can be considered successful for the representatives of Poland. Although Kamil Stoch clearly has problems, Dawid Kubacki and Piotr Żyła had a great competition. Paweł Wąsek and Aleksander Zniszczoł also presented themselves very decently, scoring points in the World Cup again.
In the general classification, Halvor Egner Granerud’s lead over Dawid Kubacki increased to 152 points. Piotr Żyła escaped Manuel Fettner a bit and came close to Stefan Kraft, holding fifth place. Kamil Stoch, in turn, is currently in tenth place.
Source: Sport.PL
Tristin is an accomplished author and journalist, known for his in-depth and engaging writing on sports. He currently works as a writer at 247 News Agency, where he has established himself as a respected voice in the sports industry.
