Andi Kofler wins the qualification in Sapporo, Japan

Andi Kofler wins the qualification in Sapporo, Japan

24/01/2014 20:52

(Andreas Kofler) SkiJumpingItaly 2013 - (c) Kathrin Müller

The Okurayama hill in Sapporo hosted a qualification for the World-Cup competition today and the victory belongs to Andreas Kofler – he reached 130,5 meters and this jump makes him one of the favorites for the upcoming competition. The second one was Tomas Naglic from Slovenia (he also jumped 130,5m), third place is occupied by German Danny Queck for 126m.

The fourth jumper was Antonin Hajek from Czech Republic and his jump, 126,5 meters long, makes him the best Czech jumper – but don’t forget about last year’s winner Jan Matura (he jumped only 118 meters as a pre-qualified jumper). The rising Norwegian talent Robert Johansson (131m) was fifth. Simon Ammann is absent in Sapporo, so Gregor Deschwanden’s 126,5m make him the best Swiss. The current situation is clear – it is the pre-Olympic time, so the best jumpers train in Europe and Sapporo is usually a place where the stars are absent. Young athletes or average jumpers have a chance to win a World-Cup race here, or just to start at the first round. This challenge can be taken for example by Simen Key Grimsrud (Norway), Robert Hrgota (Slovenia), Nico Polychronidis (Greece), Siim-Tanel Sammelselg (Estonia), Sorin Iulian Pitea (Romania) and Joachim Hauer (Norway).

So stay tuned, we'll keep you up to date about it as most TV channels won't broadcast the competition.

• by Jiri Jindra (@jirkajindra11)