Austria win sky flying team competition in Planica, Slovenia 3rd
Planica, 29 March - Austria won Saturday's men's team competition at the ski flying World Cup meet on the Planica hill in Slovenia. Germany came second, while Slovenia finished third in the rainy competition, which will be followed by the final individual event of the season on Sunday.
Planica
Team event at men's ski jumping World Cup finale on the ski flying hill in Planica.
Photo: Anže Malovrh/STA
Planica
Team event at men's ski jumping World Cup finale on the ski flying hill in Planica.
Markus Eisenbichler (Germany) ends his ski jumping career after the World Cup final in Planica.
Photo: Anže Malovrh/STA
Planica
Team event at men's ski jumping World Cup finale on the ski flying hill in Planica.
Photo: Anže Malovrh/STA
Planica
Team event at men's ski jumping World Cup finale on the ski flying hill in Planica.
Victorious team Austria.
Photo: Anže Malovrh/STA
Planica
Team event at men's ski jumping World Cup finale on the ski flying hill in Planica.
Photo: Anže Malovrh/STA
Planica
Team event at men's ski jumping World Cup finale on the ski flying hill in Planica.
Photo: Anže Malovrh/STA
Planica
Team event at men's ski jumping World Cup finale on the ski flying hill in Planica.
Markus Eisenbichler (Germany) ends his ski jumping career after the World Cup final in Planica.
Photo: Anže Malovrh/STA
While the home team were the main favourites after Friday's double victory in the individual competition, almost all of Slovenia's jumpers delivered slightly sub-par performances in the first round.
A blunder by Lovro Kos (216.5 m and 193 m) in the second round relegated Slovenia to a fight for third place with Poland, and World Champion Domen Prevc (228 m and 230.5 m), Friday's winner, Timi Zajc (214.5 m and 227.5 m), as well as Anže Lanišek (221.5 m and 234.5 m), Friday's runner-up, all delivered.
"In the end, a great third place for us. We all had some problems today but overall we have to be happy," Zajc said after the competition, while Prevc, the best individual overall of today's competition confirmed he still sees room for improvment for Sunday.
Austria, featuring overall World Cup winner Daniel Tschofenig, Jan Hörl, Stefan Kraft and Manuel Fettner, secured their third consecutive team competition victory in Planica.
"Nobody believed that we would win today, because the Slovenians are very strong when it comes to ski flying. It was a bit of revenge for Trondheim," Hörl told Austrian, recalling the recent World Championships where the Slovenian quartet successfully defended their team victory from Planica 2023.
Things were emotional in the German team, as six-time world champion Markus Eisenbichler helped it clinch second place in what was the final performance of the 33-year-old's career. The remaining German jumpers were Karl Geiger, Andreas Wellinger and Pius Paschke.
Japan's Ryoyu Kobayashi had the day's biggest jump of the day with 235 metres, but the Japanese team placed fifth.
* Results
1 Austria 1,749.3 points 2 Germany 1,720.2 3 Slovenia 1,707.2 4 Poland 1,680.6 5 Japan 1,673.1 6 Norway 1,484.1 7 Switzerland 1,458.0 8 USA 1,350.9