Ski flying

Bad fall in Planica, ÖSV eagles manage to qualify

Stefan Kraft (left) easily survived the qualification. The Finn Eetu Nousianen (small picture) crashed heavily.(Bild: GEPA, twitter.com/Eurosport_PL)

All six Austrians who competed made it through qualification for the Ski Flying World Cup in Planica on Thursday. There were a few crashes at the start, with Finland's Eetu Nousiainen suffering a bad fall. 

Daniel Huber finished third with 227.0 m and Stefan Kraft sixth with 220.5 m. Daniel Tschofenig (211.5), Jan Hörl (203.0), Manuel Fettner (203.5) and Michael Hayböck (199.5) finished 14th, 20th, 21st and 27th. The Japanese Ryoyu Kobayashi (230.0) was the winner of the qualification ahead of Piotr Zyla, the Pole flew the furthest with 241.0 m despite a lower hatch.

There were a few crashes at the flying start on the slightly converted traditional ski jump. Sergei Tkachenko from Kazakhstan lost control of his skis after the take-off in training and crashed onto the stem, while Casey Larson from the USA and Eetu Nousianen from Finland crashed in qualifying. The latter had to be transported away with abrasions to his face and pain in his knee. Three years ago, the Norwegian Daniel-Andre Tande crashed heavily in Planica.

The program in Planica
Individual competitions are scheduled for Friday (3.30 pm) and Sunday (9.30 am), and a team competition for Saturday (9.30 am). For Kraft, it's all about winning the Ski Flying World Cup, Huber is one of his competitors for winning the small globe. The women will compete in their season finale this Thursday on the normal hill in Planica (17).