There hasn’t been a sight like this for a long time. The Poles did not disappoint in the qualifications

The qualifications for the last individual competition planned as part of the Polish Tournament are behind us. Although we had the opportunity to field as many as nine players, Thomas Thurnbichler sent only eight into battle. This is the result of recent events with Jakub Wolny in the main role.

POLISH TOURNAMENT. A good start for the Poles

We started the competition with several white and red teams taking part. At the beginning, those who usually play in the B team showed up. Andrzej Stękała was the first to start and unfortunately he did not even reach point “K” located at the 125th meter. He finished 119th, but received a lot of compensation for the wind and scored 125.9 points.

Klemens Murańka flew a little further, to 124 meters. Interestingly, it was rated 0.1 worse. Maciej Kot, in turn, achieved 122 meters and received a score of 127.3. As the foreign competitors performed much worse, all three of them advanced to the main competition.

After a long time, it was the turn of two more representatives of our country. The first to appear on the beam was Paweł Wąsek, who did so well that he took 2nd place after his attempt. A distance of 129 and a score of 136.4 meant that the 24-year-old did not even have to worry about advancing. Aleksander Zniszczoł landed two meters closer, but he received less compensation for the wind, so his total score was 131.1.

Dawid Kubacki is the best of Poles

The next Pole was Kamil Stoch, who showed promise in training, but did less well in qualifying, at least according to himself. The leader of our team was not happy after landing. He gained 128 meters and a rating of 133.5.

Right after him, Dawid Kubacki appeared, who also did well in the trial series. This time, the 33-year-old flew as far as 135 meters. At that point, it was the longest jump in the entire session. However, it was the result of favorable wind conditions, which they took into account and assessed it at 139 points. As it later turned out, it was the best result of all the Poles achieved.

Finally, it was time for Piotr Żyła. Unfortunately, his speed was low at the threshold, but he still flew to 129 meters. He received a large allowance for wind from the judges, thanks to which he scored 132.2 points. Thus, all the white and red team advanced to Sunday’s individual competition. Stefan Kraft won the entire competition.

Qualification results in Zakopane

1. Stefan Kraft (Austria) – 140 meters – 157.9 points
2. Andreas Wellinger (Germany) – 139.5 meters – 154.8 points
3. Manuel Fettner (Austria) – 134.5 meters – 152.2 points
4. Peter Prevc (Slovenia) – 135 meters – 151.1 points
5. Ren Nikaido (Japan) – 137 meters – 149.7 points
6. Johann Andre Forfang (Norway) – 136.5 meters – 149.5 points
7. Lovro Kos (Slovenia) – 135 meters – 149.2 points
8. Gregor Deschwanden (Switzerland) – 136 meters – 148.2 points
9. Stepchan Embacher (Austria) – 134 meters – 147.6 points
10. Anze Lanisek (Slovenia) – 132 meters – 146.6 points
18. Dawid Kubacki – 135 meters – 139 points
20. Paweł Wąsek – 129 meters – 136.4 points
24. Kamil Stoch – 128 meters – 133.5 points
30. Piotr Żyła – 129 meters – 132.2 points
33. Aleksander Zniszczoł – 127 meters – 131.1 points
35. Maciej Kot – 122 meters – 127.3 points
40. Klemens Murańka – 124 meters – 125.9 points
41. Andrzej Stękała – 119 meters – 125.8 points