Lillehammer ski jumping: Austrians miss the podium; Kobayashi wins

Austria’s ski jumpers narrowly missed the podium in the second World Cup competition in Lillehammer.

Japan’s Ryoyu Kobayashi won the event—his 36th World Cup triumph—by 3.2 points over Slovenia’s Domen Prevc, with Germany’s Felix Hoffmann 4.3 points back in third. Austria’s Stefan Kraft was the top ÖSV athlete in fifth after gaining one place with his second jump, finishing just 3.5 points off the podium. He said he felt the second jump was very good, but noted that the others matched him.

Kraft, who placed third the previous day, is closing in on the all-time World Cup points record: he has collected 15,711 points in his career and is now only 47 behind Janne Ahonen’s mark. He hopes to surpass the record in Falun, Sweden, where two competitions are scheduled on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Saturday’s winner Daniel Tschofenig led an Austrian 1–2–3 the day before, but on Sunday he was seventh thanks to a strong second jump. Jan Hörl finished eighth, and 19-year-old Stephan Embacher delivered his best World Cup result so far in ninth, capping a solid team showing with four Austrians in the top nine.