Michael Hayboeck the best in the qualification in Zakopane
Michael Hayboeck - FIS
Austrian Michael Hayboeck won the qualification for Sunday's individual competition in Zakopane on Friday evening. With a jump on 128 m (143.4 points) Hayboeck took the win ahead of the surprisingly strong Russian Mikhail Maksimochkin (130.5 m; 135.2 points) and Germany's Andreas Wank (124.5 m; 135.1 points).
In front of almost 5000 fans and with changing wind conditions that lead to various short interruptions, Hayboeck presented himself in the strong shape that he has already proven yesterday in Wisla when he finished third. For Maksimochkin his second place was a career best, "I was able to show a really good jump", the 19-year-old said afterwards.
With Jan Matura of the Czech Republic (4th), Anders Fannemel of Norway (5th), Anssi Koivuranta of Finland (6th), Dawid Kubacki of Poland (7th) and Jernej Damjan of Slovenia (8th) jumpers of eight different nations came in on the first eight places, the results can't be more internationally diverse. Slovenia, Austria, Poland and Germany are the top contenders for Saturday's team competition.
Gregor Schlierenzauer (AUT), Anders Bardal (NOR) and 4-Hills-Tournament winner Thomas Diethart showed the best performances of the pre-qualified athletes. Andreas Wellinger (GER), the winner of yesterday's competition in Wisla, Peter Prevc (SLO) and Kamil Stoch (POL) skipped their jumps. Also some well known names failed to make the cut for the competition: among them Germany's Michael Neumayer in 41st.
The team competition in Zakopane will take place on Saturday (start: 5:15 pm CET), the individual competition follows on Sunday (start: 2:00 pm CET).