Forfang achieves eighth in Oberstdorf qualification – all Norwegians advance

Forfang achieves eighth in Oberstdorf qualification – all Norwegians advance
Johann Forfang showed promising form as he opened the Four Hills Tournament by securing the eighth position in the qualification round held in Oberstdorf on Saturday afternoon.

The Austrian competitors dominated the qualification with five jumpers finishing at the top of the leaderboard. Forfang followed closely behind, scoring 13.8 points less than Daniel Tschofenig, who topped the results.

This puts the Norwegian in a strong position as the tournament kicks off its head-to-head contest at Schattenbergbakken on Sunday afternoon.

Forfang has exhibited strong performances in recent competitions and warmed up for this event with a fourth-place finish in the World Cup in Engelberg just before Christmas. He maintained this good form, landing a jump of 134 meters despite challenging conditions during Saturday's qualification.

Halvor Egner Granerud finished as the next best Norwegian at sixteenth place with a jump of 122.5 meters. Benjamin Østvold followed closely in eighteenth position with a jump of 130.5 meters, while Kristoffer Eriksen Sundal placed twenty-seventh with a distance of 122.5 meters.

Fredrik Villumstad and Marius Lindvik disappointed with jumps of 121 and 124 meters, respectively; nevertheless, they qualified as thirty and thirty-four places.

Among those who failed to qualify was four-time individual Olympic champion Simon Ammann, who landed in fifty-first place, and former world champion Dawid Kubacki in fifty-third.

The Norwegian men's ski jumpers have not had an ideal start to the season in the World Cup circuit. Sundal's third-place finish in Titisee-Neustadt remains the team's sole individual podium finish.

Norge did finish second in the mixed team competition during the World Cup opener in Lillehammer and placed third in the super team event in Titisee-Neustadt.

The Four Hills Tournament continues in its usual locations of Oberstdorf, Garmisch-Partenkirchen, and Innsbruck, culminating with events in Bischofshofen on January 6.

However, the concluding competitions in Austria may proceed without Norwegian television viewers, as the broadcasting rights for the events in Innsbruck and Bischofshofen have not been sold to any Norwegian broadcaster.

Japanese Ryoyu Kobayashi is the reigning champion, having won last season ahead of German Andreas Wellinger and Austrian Stefan Kraft.

(©NTB)

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