World record holder Stefan Kraft was only beaten by World Cup leader Halvor Egner Granerud in his first Vikersund fly. On Saturday, the man from Salzburg was 6.1 points behind the Norwegian, who extended his lead in the Raw Air ahead of the ÖSV top man to over 28 points. Well behind the red-white-red evergreen Kraft, Daniel Tschofenig was able to celebrate a rare podium finish in third place.
Kraft sailed 239.5 meters in the first round of ski flying in Vikersund – even though he had been supported during the trial round. Traotz Mega-Wide, the man from Salzburg had to settle for second place. Because the Norwegian Halvor Egner Granerud only jumped 235.5 meters, but got 9.8 points more than the Salzburg. Michael Hayboeck completed the strong Austrian performance at the Norwegian airport in sixth place. At the end of the Raw Air, the qualification and the second competition are still on the program on Sunday. After the stops in Oslo and Lillehammer, the ten-day Raw Air Tour ends on the ski jump in Vikersund. On Sunday there is another competition on the “Monsterbakken” to choose the overall winner. With the victory in qualifying, Kraft improved to second place on Friday and reduced the gap to Granerud (1,770.3) to 22.4 points. “Maybe something is still possible”, the ski flying world record holder looked ahead optimistically. Daniel Tschofenig is sixth as the second best ÖSV athlete (1,671.1).
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