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Dominates the Four Hills Tournament at will: The Japanese Ryoyu Kobayashi in the qualifying competition in Bischofshofen
Photo: CHRISTOF STACHE / AFP
The overall leader of the Four Hills Tournament, Ryoyu Kobayashi, also won the qualification for the third competition of the Four Hills Tournament, which was moved from Innsbruck to Bischofshofen.
The Japanese won with 141.5 meters and 139 points ahead of the Norwegian Marius Lindvik and still has the best chances of being the first jumper in history to make the Grand Slam for the second time - victories in all four competitions of a tour.
"In Bischofshofen, he can no longer take the overall victory, this is his favorite hill," said his Austrian trainer Richard Schaller before the qualification of the "Tiroler Tageszeitung".
His protégé Kobayashi is already 13.2 points ahead of second-placed Norwegian Marius Lindvik in the overall standings before the third competition.
The best German Karl Geiger landed in fifth place with 131.5 meters (127.3 points).
All seven DSV starters qualified for the jumping, including Markus Eisenbichler in sixth place (132.5 meters, 125.2 points), who is almost twelve meters behind Kobayashi in fourth place.
Andreas Wellinger, who made it to seventh place after 129 meters (120.3 points), also showed a strong performance.
The last two competitions will take place in Bischofshofen after the Innsbruck jump had to be canceled on Tuesday due to a storm blown.
The first round starts just a few hours after the qualification on Wednesday (at 4.30 p.m., live ticker SPIEGEL.de; TV: ARD).
see / sid / dpa
