The wind was playing the cards today at the Lahti hill, but that’s still a mild word for what was going on. The judges knew from the beginning that there would be problems, and they still allowed jumps in very unstable conditions. The competition was won by Ryoyu Kobayashi. Poles did not play significant roles. Halvor Egner Granerud had a disastrous jump
The qualifications already cast doubt on the fact that the competition could be played without any problems. Just before the start, Borek Sedlak warned Sandro Pertile that the wind changes its speed and direction very quickly and is unpredictable. Most of the players had to get off the beam and only after the second or third attempt they managed to make the jumps. The judges conducted only one series. Immediately after its completion, they decided that it was the end of the competition.
Competition – parody of ski jumping
At times the wind speed could exceed 5 m/s, mainly on the side of the hill. It had a very changeable direction and it was difficult to judge when to release the jumper. In the end, one series was played, but some players will have every right to criticize the judges for their decisions, such as Andreas Wellinger, who jumped only 95 meters.
Fortunately, those representatives who are not the leading figures of the Polish team found good conditions. And they were the highest-ranked Poles in the competition.
The best was Jan Habdas, who jumped 124 meters and placed 11th. Just behind him was Paweł Wąsek (123 meters), and Aleksander Zniszczoł finished the competition in 14th position. He jumped as much as 129 meters, but had more than two meters per second of headwind.
Piotr Żyła and Kamil Stoch were unlucky with the conditions, they were classified in further places. The first of them jumped 120.5 meters, but got a stronger gust in the final phase of the flight and staggered before landing. He finished in 20th position. Stoch was ahead of Żyła, in 18th place. He got a distance of 117.5 meters.
Tomasz Pilch made a fatal jump. He landed 84 meters and was in 49th place. During his jump the conditions changed abruptly, he had more than a meter per second of wind at his back. And he jumped right after Habdas, who had the wind under his skis.
The best turned out to be Ryoyu Kobayashi, who hit a good wind window and jumped as much as 136.5 meters. As a result, he won the one-series competition. The second was Stefan Kraft (130 meters), and the third Karl Geiger (133 meters).
Halvor Egner Granerud can talk about the disaster. He misjudged the threshold, was unstable in flight and landed at 95 meters. He finished in 46th place.
There is only one weekend left of the mammoth competitions in Planica until the end of the season.
The standings of the individual competition in Lahti after the only series:
- 1. Ryoyu Kobayashi (Japonia) 145,9 pkt.
- 2. Stefan Kraft (Austria) 141.8
- 3. Karl Geiger (Germany) 137
- 4. Daniel Tschofenig (Austria) 134,2
- 5. Anze Lanisek (Slovenia) 133.7
- 11. Jan Habdas 117.7
- 12. Pawel Wasek 117.6
- 14. Aleksander Destroyer 117.2
- 18. Kamil Stoch 109.9
- 20. Piotr Żyła 108
- 46. Halvor Egner Granerud (Norway) 68.8
- 49. Tomasz Pilch 60.4
