World record holder Stephen Croft is halfway to silver in the individual competition after two out of four runs at the Ski Flying World Championships in Kulm. Salzburger sailed 225.5 and 219m in front of 7,800 fans on Friday to finish second after the first round. Slovenian Timi Zajc 228.5m later, 227m, 12.3 points ahead of Croft. In third place is Norwegian Johan Andre Forfang (+17.1).
There are two more ÖSV athletes in the top ten, with Michael Hayböck (217/210.5 m) and Jan Hörl (201.5/214.5) in eighth and tenth place. Zajc confirmed his good form, with the Slovenian six meters below the eight-year-old hill record of 238.0m set by fellow countryman Peter Brevk in morning training.
Manuel Fedner, who finished 35th out of 47 athletes who competed, did not advance in the first round; Only the top 30 advanced. The Tyrolean broke the competition jump and managed only 158m. “I put everything on one card. After the table I did something I shouldn't have done,” the 38-year-old said in an ORF interview.
Last year's Kulm World Cup winner Halvor Egner Granerud was eliminated after one flight. The Norwegian was one of three athletes disqualified after the case measurement.
