Four Hills Tournament: winner of Oberstdorf shoots against the jury
Created: 12/30/2022, 1:41 p.m
By: Melanie Gottschalk
Halvor Egner Granerud is annoyed by a jury decision after the opening event of the Four Hills Tournament in Oberstdorf.
© Hafner/imago
After the opening competition of the Four Hills Tournament in Oberstdorf, winner Halvor Egner Granerud cannot really be happy.
The reason for this is the jury.
Oberstdorf - On Wednesday (December 28) the 71st Four Hills Tournament started - one of the big highlights of the year in ski jumping.
The battle for the coveted Golden Eagle is on.
However, the German jumpers were not among the top favorites for the trophy before the first competition, because the flagship eagles Karl Geiger and Markus Eisenbichler in particular have lagged behind their performances this winter.
On his home hill, however, Geiger presented himself in better form, ultimately jumping just 70 centimeters off the podium and finishing fourth.
An increase that should please the Germans.
The national coach was also satisfied: "It was a great start to the tour, I'm very satisfied," said Stefan Horngacher after the opening jump of the Four Hills Tournament on ZDF.
Four Hills Tournament: those responsible struggle with changing winds
However, during the two rounds on Thursday (December 29), the changing winds made things difficult for those responsible at the Schattenbergschanze in Oberstdorf.
Ironically, the conditions improved in the group of favorites.
In this case, the inrun is usually shortened so that the jumpers don't come down too far and possibly fall.
In the first round of the Four Hills Tournament, the inrun was even extended, the Pole Dawid Kubacki flew to 140.5 meters.
Eventual winner Halvor Egner Granerud had dominated both qualifying and every practice jump he participated in in Oberstdorf and feared it might be going too far for him.
Four Hills Tournament: Norwegian coach shortens inrun for Granerud
The Norwegian national coach Alexander Stöckl
therefore decided independently to shorten the inrun for his top jumper, since the jury did not intervene.
In this case, however, the jumpers have to deliver a minimum distance that depends on the size of the hill in order to get the bonus points for the gate shortening.
Granerud managed this without any problems at the opening event of the Four Hills Tournament - and ended up on the podium as the winner.
Afterwards he could not resist criticizing the jury.
“I just found it strange that we had to jump from a higher hatch in the first run than in the practice run, where I landed at 138 meters.
I'm really happy that Alex took me down a hatch, but it shouldn't be Alex's responsibility to make sure I can still work tomorrow," the ski jumper is quoted as saying on
Eurosport
.
Four Hills Tournament: Granerud criticizes the jury for the decision
142.5 meters is a long way, but to stand, he had no problems landing.
"But if Alex hadn't gotten me down, it would have gone too far.
I wasn't particularly happy about that," said the winner of the opening event of the Four Hills Tournament in Oberstdorf.
In the end everything went well and Granerud was able to celebrate his triumph.
(msb)
