A great start for Kamil Stoch in Wisła
World Cup season 2020/21 started for the jumpers on Friday evening with training and qualifications in Wisła (POL). And it was an excellent start for the hosts on the Adam Małysz hill.
Local hero Kamil Stoch won the qualification with the longest jump of the round 132 mi 135,3 point. The Japanese Yukiya Sato surprised with a very strong distance jump 129 mi 128,6 point, which secured him second place today.
Markus Eisenbichler, who has already shown himself in great shape during the training series, jumped on 129,5 m (128,4 point) and was the best German that winter in the first qualifier, taking third place. "I'm very happy, I focused on that, what we're working on. It was a good start. I am not affected by the new corona virus restrictions. It's time, that we live in now and you have to adapt", said the 29-year-old.
With Karl Geiger in fifth place, another German jumper was among the best that evening.
The Austrians showed very good team performances. With Michael Hayboeck (4.), Daniel Huber (9.), Jan Hoerl (11.) i Philippem Aschenwaldem (12.), four of them are in the top 12 today. This performance does, that the players of new coach Andreas Widhoelzl are among the top contenders in Saturday's team competition.
Of course, Poles also have to be reckoned with. In addition to Stoch, Dawid Kubacki also presented convincing performances (5.) and Piotr Zyla (10.).
Peter Prevc was the best of the disappointing Slovenian team at 16. place, on the other hand, it was a good day for the two Canadians on the pitch. Mackenzie Boyd-Clowes (20.) i Matthew Soukup (49.) could qualify for Sunday's individual competition.
In his first World Cup appearance since March 2019 year Andreas Wellinger also entered the competition for 38. place. The Olympic champion was pleased with his performance on the first day of the season. “My jumps today were solid, it was a small step in the right direction. I was a bit nervous, because it was my first official jump after a long break”.
It was a bad start to the winter for Simon Ammann. The Swiss veteran did not advance to the competition for 56. place. Slovenia's Anze Semenic and Japan's Naoki Nakamura were also unable to qualify today.