Dawid Kubacki wins this summer's
first qualification
berkutschi.com
It's getting serious again, the FIS Grand
Prix 2013 starts in Hinterzarten. For the men it
was time for training and qualification on Friday
at the "Adlerschanze" in the Black Forest,
Germany.
On a hot summer day the victory in the qualification
went to Dawid Kubacki of Poland with 106 m and 131.4
points.
German youngster Andreas Wellinger jumped only 0.5
meters shorter than the winner and came in second
only 0.3 points behind.
Strong comeback of Ahonen
The comeback of Janne Ahonen, who is taking part
in an international competition for the first time
this year, was especially eagerly awaited in Hinterzarten.
And the 36-year-old Finn showed an impressive performance.
After finishing 25th and 9th in the two training
round, he posted the longest jump of the qualification
with 106.5 m and came in third. With 129.7 points
he shared this place with Czech Roman Koudelka (105.5
m).
Best Austrian was Stefan Kraft as fifth, his teammates
Manuel Fettner (13th), Andreas Kofler (25th) and
Michael Hayboeck (27.) also had not problems to
qualify for the competition.
All Germans start in home event
Also all German jumpers could qualify in front of
their home crowd. Besides Wellinger also Karl Geiger
(6th), Andreas Wank (8th) and Danny Queck (14th)
earned their spot in Sunday's individual competition.
Best of the Japanese on Friday was veteran Noriaki
Kasai as eighth, the Top 10 of the qualification
were completed by Lukas Hlava of the Czech Republic
(9th) and Poland's Maciej Kot (10th). It was also
a successful day for the teams of these jumpers.
All athletes of Japan, the Czech Republic and Poland
made the cut.
Mackenzie Boyd-Clowes of Canada closely missed the
Top 10, but easily qualified for the first individual
competition of the Grand Prix 2013 as eleventh.
Best of the Slovenian team was Matjaz Pungertar
as 15th.
The Norwegians didn't have a very good start into
this summer season. Their best in the qualification
was Kim Rene Elverum Sorsell as 23rd, Anders Fannemel
was 40th. Andreas Stjernen failed to qualify, Rune
Velta was disqualified because his suit was not
compliant to the rules. The same fate was shared
by Slovenia's Jaka Hvala.
The longest jump of the pre-qualified athletes was
shown by local hero Severin Freund with 106 m, followed
by Norwegian Tom Hilde (104 m) and Kamil Stoch (103
m) of Poland.
