Halvor Egner Granerud racks up fourth straight World Cup win
Norwegian flies high in Engelberg, taking victory from three-time Olympic gold medallist Kamil Stoch and Anze Lanizek.
Ski Jumping
Halvor Egner Granerud is on a roll.
After leading Norway to the team title at the last weekend's Ski Flying World Championships, the 24-year-old claimed his fourth consecutive Ski Jumping World Cup victory in Engelberg, Switzerland on Saturday (19 December).
Granerud had jumps of 133.5m and 138m as he totalled 311.4 points, just 2.2 ahead of triple Olympic gold medallist Kamil Stoch who made a welcome return to form.
The Pole had fired a warning shot on Friday with a monster jump of 146m in training, two metres further than the hill record, but was unable to repeat those heroics today.
Slovenia's Anze Lanizek was third, edging out Markus Eisenbichler to join Stoch in having first podium finishes of the season.
The German, who won the first two competitions of the season, put in leaps of 133m and 138m but his tally of 301.7 was just one point behind Lanizek after a thrilling second round of high-class jumps.
Speaking to FIS afterwards, Granerud said his victory "wasn't easy".
"I think it's my best performance this winter, especially the first round with everything going on, having to wait for so long. Then performing such a good jump under such hard conditions."
Granerud converts halfway lead into victory
Granerud led after the first round by just half a point despite Lanisek jumping four metres further at 137.5m.
"So finally I got the chance to have the lead after the first round," Norway's table topper continued.
"That's something I really wanted to do but unfortunately there's always been someone jumping a little bit better than me in the first round. Yeah, it was fun to get that experience as well."
Granerud was a narrow second to Karl Geiger at the Ski Flying Worlds individual event before Norway's team success in Planica.
And he is clearly the man to beat at present as he extended his lead in the overall World Cup standings.
He is top on 500 points with Eisenbichler second on 383 and Robert Johansson a distant third on 220 having failed to score any points in Engelberg after he finished outside the top 30 jumpers on his first round.
It was a good day for the Poles with Andrzej Stekala and Piotr Zyla fifth and seventh respectively and David Kubacki ninth.
Daniel Huber, making his return after COVID, was 12th and the pick of the Austrians.
Having led first qualification on Friday, Japan's Sato Yukiya failed to make the second round after a lacklustre first jump of 116m.
The 25-year-old caused a stir last season by winning two World Cup events but has failed to find that form so far this term.
Two-time Olympic gold medallist Andreas Wellinger failed to make the cut in Friday qualifying, as did his German team-mate Severin Freund.
There is another large hill event on Sunday at Engelberg before the Four Hills Tournament gets underway in Oberstdorf on 28 December.
When asked if he was the clear favourite, Granerud replied, "I think that's fair, but I don't know if the smartest idea concerning the Four Hills is to win here in Engelberg. But I try to win every competition so I'll see."