Austrian skiers ranked in the top tier of the Continental Cup standings will lead a field of more than 35 athletes from nine nations competing at this weeken
Simon Ammann
Due to the bad weather forecast for Sunday, the schedule of the Continental Cup in Innsbruck (AUT) was changed and both competitions there were already held on Saturday.
The first competition was won by Aleksander Zniszczol of Poland with 128 m and 127 m and a total of 259.5 points. This was already the eighth win in the Continental Cup for the 26-year-old.
The second place went to Norway s Anders Haare, with jumps of 126.5 m and 125.5 m that earned him 248.5 points. The leader after the first round, local hero Niklas Bachlinger, came in third with 129.5 m and 125 m and 246.8 points. It was his first podium in only his sixth COC competition.
Halvor Egner Granerud opens World Cup weekend with a win
Halvor Egner Granerud
The World Cup weekend in Titisee-Neustadt started with a prologue-win of Norway s Halvor Egner Granerud. The overall World Cup leader posted a jump of 140 m and came in ahead of Poland s Dawid Kubacki (139 m) and Marius Lindvik of Norway (141 m).
There were some long jumps on the first day of the Ski Jumping World Cup in the Black Forest. Andrzej Stekala and Jakub Wolny landed at 146 resp. 143 m in the training rounds, the good conditions and the perfectly prepared Hochfirst-hill allowed for long jump with it being dangerous for the athletes. In the prologue, it was then Ski Jumping at its finest. Austria s Daniel Huber had the longest jump in this round with 142.5 m, he finished fourth and proves the ambitions for a podium of the Austrians this weekend.
Maximilian Steiner
The second competition of the Continental Cup in Engelberg on Monday became a duel of Austria vs. Slovenia. In the end, an Austrian came out on top in an extremely close race on the Titlis-hill.
Maximilian Steiner, fifth yesterday, won the competition with his first jump of 135 m and the longest jump of the day of 143 and 280.1 points. The 24-year-old made it to the top of the podium again more than three years after his first COC win in August 2017. I ve not jumped over that red line in that many competitions, it was a real adrenaline rush. Jumping on this hill is a lot of fun , said Maximilian Steiner.
Stefan Rainer
Due to the bad weather forecast for Sunday, the third competition of the Continental Cup in Ruka (FIN) was rescheduled and held only a few hours after the second competition of the weekend on Saturday evening. And just like in the first two events on the Rukatunturi-hill, the win went to a ski jumper from Austria, this time the Austrians took all three spots on the podium.
The weekend in Ruka ended just the way it started on Friday: With a victory of Stefan Rainer. The 21-year-old was second after the first round with his 134 m jump, he was then able to secure his second career win in the COC with 136 m in the final round and 289.0 points. It was a nice competition, the conditions were great. It was not as windy as yesterday and I m very happy about my jumps , said the two-time winner.