#wc201819

Ski Jumping season 2018/19 challenge

[2 of 7 ski jumpers] RYOYU KOBAYASHI

A fairy-tale season for Ryoyu! It looked so easy when he jumped and the Grand Slam at the Four Hills Tournament was really impressive. He made it look like it was easy-peasy. I'm curious to see the follow-up season of his winter 2018/19.

The season was different than Severin had imagined and hoped for, he had another surgery. Gregor struggled, too, and I hope he still has motivation left and comes back stronger! Same goes for Andi and Richi. We all know they can do better and it hurts to see them being so hard on themselves. David injured himself when his results where promising and that team victory in Zakopane hardly felt like a victory at all. Stephan’s crash in Oslo looked really bad, but he seems to be okay now and I hope this season gave him confidence for the next one, he can be proud of the six top 5 results he achieved! Kamil had ups and downs but I think he’s experienced enough to fight his way back to the very top next season. It’s just the little things, sometimes. And third place in the overall world cup is definitely not bad! Same goes for Krafti. He had a really bad day in Garmisch-Partenkirchen but also celebrated three victories in a row this season and ended up on rank 2 in the overall world cup standings.

But really, the most unlucky team this season was Norway. After such a fantastic season 2017/18, they fell hard. Disqualifications, bad luck with conditions, Kenneth ending his career because of yet another injury instead of celebrating his comeback ... Just when Daniel seemed to have gotten back in shape in Oberstdorf for ski flying, he fell in Lahti and had to end the season way too early. Andreas also crashed there, but thankfully he could end his career on the podium in Trondheim. That was beautfiul. Robert started really well into Raw Air but then it didn’t really work out. I just hope Team Norway (and Daniel especially) has collected all the bad luck that was waiting for the next couple of years already this season, so they can come back to the top next season!

Others though had the best season of their lives so far. Ryoyu did the impossible. He won 13 competitions, Four Hills with the Grand Slam as the third jumper ever, Raw Air, Willingen5, Planica7, the overall World Cup as the first non-european jumper ever, and the ski flying World Cup, too. Wow. Congratulations!

Evgeniy started great into the season, winning the first competition and becoming the first Russian ski jumper to wear the yellow bib. For Timi, 2018/19 was a fantastic season. It sometimes felt as if he was carrying all the weight in the Slovenian team (after the Prevc brothers leaving Four Hills early, for example). Timi won his first world cup - in his first ski flying competition. So great to see his broad smile every time got to mimick striking through his previous personal best when waiting for the results after his jump. 240m is something some jumpers never achieve in their whole career and he reached that milestone just after three ski flying weekends. We got to look out for him next year at the ski flying world championships. Mark my words. Same goes for Jakub. He really got the hang of ski flying now with rank 4 in Vikersund as his best result so far. Domen also got back in shape, together with Peter who was on the podium in Oslo and looked more stable in general during the end of the season. I’m looking forward to what the Prevc brothers are up to next season.

The conditions, well ... One weekend got cancelled: Titisee-Neustadt. Not enough snow, too warm. Just a few weeks later there was SO MUCH SNOW in Bischofshofen that it wasn’t sure if the fourth competition of Four Hills could take place. We had a sunny weekend with “Kaiserwetter” at Bergisel for the world championships on the large hill and a week later, wind and snow messed everything up in Seefeld for the normal hill competition. Questionable jury decisions just like in Oslo, and (to a certain degree) in Zakopane, too.

For me, personally, the season was intense. I went to all Four Hills competitions, to ski flying in Oberstdorf and to Innsbruck for the World Championships and the travelling, packing, unpacking etc. alone was insane but so worth it! Most of the time, it was cold, snowing or raining and I couldn’t feel my feet after some hours, but it was a joy to watch the guys fight for the top, to see the audience support every jumper, to show my support, have my flag signed and take photos. Four Hills was crazy, especially with a new spectator record for a qualification with 15,000 people in Oberstdorf and the tons of snow during the end of the tournament in Austria. Getting to Bischofshofen from Innsbruck was really hard and at some point I doubted we’d make it and that there’d be a competition at all. Ski flying though will always be extra special for me because it was the first competition I saw live, so coming back to the Heini-Klopfer-Skiflugschanze felt like coming home and I could enjoy it more this time around. We had a backstage tour which I highly recommend. Daniel won the first training round and I went a little bit crazy. It was so great to see him back in the leader box for so long on Sunday, smiling and happy again after a frustrating Four Hills tournament (and season in general). It’s sad that there’ll be no ski flying weekend in Oberstdorf next season. Well, I might just go to Kulm instead. The weekend in Innsbruck felt surreal: Sun all day? Okay, except friday, but still. The Germans beating Bergisel? Markus actually winning? Totally worth the sunburn I got. Watching Killian wait for the result and then the utter of the whole team Switzerland, seeing Karl so happy that his roommate was even better than he himself, watching Team Germany win gold, see so many fans in Seefeld for the medal ceremony (not so many in Innsbruck though). And seeing Markus finally on top, Ryoyu not taking the win in the last second for once. Eisei’s scream of relief was something else ...

Things on tumblr got a little bit heated sometimes but I tried to stay away from that. Finding something that makes you happy is hard enough and not letting others ruin your fun or make your happy bubble burst is something I had to learn. But I had a wonderful time here and you guys create amazing content. You’re awesome!

Evgeniy Klimov 🇷🇺 - first WC victory, first WC victory of a Russian jumper

Ryoyu Kobayashi 🇯🇵 - first WC victory, first non-European winner of overall WC

Johann André Forfang 🇳🇴

Karl Geiger 🇩🇪 - first WC victory

Dawid Kubacki 🇵🇱 - first WC victory

Stefan Kraft 🇦🇹

Timi Zajc 🇸🇮 - first WC victory

Kamil Stoch 🇵🇱

Robert Johansson 🇳🇴

Domen Prevc 🇸🇮

Markus Eisenbichler 🇩🇪 - first WC victory