Stefan Kraft messes up the New Year’s jumping qualification in Garmisch
World champion Stefan Kraft experienced a bitter premiere at the end of the old year. For the first time at the Four Hills Tournament, the overall winner of 2014/15 missed the qualification for the top 50 competition, in Garmisch-Partenkirchen on New Year’s Eve it was only 59th among 77 competitors. 119.5 m were just a few meters too little for the ascent , the German qualification winner Markus Eisenbichler came two numbers before in bad wind on 137 m.
“I’m speechless”
Kraft couldn’t find his way around this Friday. In the two training jumps he reached 102.5 and 115.5 m at noon, far too little for an athlete with his qualities. “I am speechless, it was a pitch-black day,” said the devastated force to the APA – Austria Press Agency. “I’ve never been so far away three jumps in a row. I’m speechless that it can go so quickly. It was just bad, I’m at a loss.”
Even before the analysis with the coaching team, the Salzburg man identified a shortcoming in the approach position. “There is a wrong feeling there. I think I’m on the move, but I’m not and I want to catch up on that. But nothing came of it.” Despite the two Türze in training, he went into the qualification jump with conviction. “The body feeling then also felt good. I tried to do everything differently, but that didn’t work either.”
New year’s jumping without Stefan Kraft
Garmisch hadn’t been one of Kraft’s parade hills before, and in the last four years he had never been better than 13th. He had his top result in 2017 in third place. Of course, he cannot explain that to himself. “This summer I had my best jumps there.” For New Year’s Day, the 28-year-old thought to get a good feeling for the start of the week on the Bergisel with a couple of jumps on the hill in Seefeld. That should still be discussed.
The fact that he is only a spectator at the New Year’s competition hurts his “athlete’s heart a lot. But I won’t stick my head in the snow and attack again in Innsbruck.” In any case, the task of getting his best man back up awaited ÖSV head coach Andreas Widhölzl and his team. “We will do a special program and see that he is fit again for Innsbruck,” said the Tyrolean. “Of course it is bitter that it got him like that.”
Bitter end to the year for Salzburg residents
Kraft’s jump was still okay, according to Widhölzl’s analysis. “But then he followed up extremely and destroyed the jump over the stem.” But under no circumstances should one write off Kraft. “As a champion, you have to take it as it is,” advised Widhölzl. “But he can be back and win in a very short time. It is also the great art of us in the supervisory team that we ponder over it and find together so that he can get back on track.”
Mario Stecher spoke to the mental. “Ski jumping is a sport that can only be mastered with the head. If you go a little contrary to the feeling, it becomes very difficult. That happened to Stefan,” said the sports director. “The nice thing is that you can be back just as quickly. We hope so for him and for us at the Austrian Ski Association. We are asked that we pull him out. Stefan is such a great athlete with so much skill that it is relative will go quickly. “
Karl Geiger, leader in the overall World Cup and third in the qualification, suspected that too. “He is experienced and strong enough that he can put it away again in Innsbruck,” said the man from Oberstdorf. “But especially for the Krafti it is mega-bitter because it is actually in good shape, even if the jumps are not quite as stable. But it is sometimes bewitched, especially in Garmisch. If there is still a little tailwind, then you’re out before you’ve even started the competition. “
Hörl best Austrian
For the rest of the ÖSV team, after the disappointment in Oberstdorf, things went well to very well. Jan Hörl took fourth place with a 138 m jump, Daniel Tschofenig and Manuel Fettner brought 135 and 138.5 m to the seven positions and eight. The Oberstdorf eighth Daniel Huber reached 131 m to 18th place, Philipp Aschenwald was 21st, Ulrich Wohlgenannt 31st (128.5 each). Behind Eisenbichler came the Japanese Oberstorf winner Ryoyu Kobayashi (134) and Geiger (135.5).
(Source: SALZBURG24 / APA)