Slovenian double victory in Oberstdorf

Slovenian double victory at the FIS Ski Flying World Cup in Oberstdorf (GER). 
Ski flying specialist Timi Zajc won the individual competition on Saturday ahead of his team-mate Peter Prevc and Stefan Kraft from Austria. For Zajc it was already the third individual success on the HS 235 meter ski flying hill in Oberstdorf.

Timi Zajc celebrated his first World Cup victory of the current winter, the fourth of his career.
All four of the Slovenian's victories have come on ski flying hills, three in Oberstdorf and one in Planica (SLO): "I'm really happy today. I was a bit disappointed with third place after the Ski Flying World Championships, even though a bronze medal is of course a success. 
I did a great job today and I'm very happy. I love this hill here in Oberstdorf," said Zajc after his victory.

The surprise of the day came from Zajc's teammate Peter Prevc.
Prevc, who will end his career at the end of the season in four weeks, put on an outstanding flying show and finished only just behind the day's winner Zajc. It was Prevc's first podium since Planica 2022.

With his third place, Stefan Kraft was able to take important points away from his direct rivals in the battle for the overall World Cup, Ryoyu Kobayashi and Andreas Wellinger.
"I'm very happy, yesterday's start was difficult, it wasn't so easy after that opening. The Slovenians were very, very strong, it's a shame that it wasn't quite enough for a double podium with Michael (Hayböck), but the others were simply better. I'm really looking forward to tomorrow, we'll have another great fight with the Slovenians," said Kraft, whose friend and team colleague Michael Hayboeck just missed out on the podium in 4th place.
Kraft is now leading with 1446 points ahead of Kobayashi (1217 points) and Wellinger (1142 points) who finished 6th today: "I'm actually happy with the result today. It was better than yesterday, especially the second run was good. It was really easy.
The level is incredibly high, there are a hell of a lot of people in the field who can ski jump really well, if you make a small mistake in this field, you have no chance of being at the top," explained Wellinger.

The second ski flying competition in Oberstdorf starts on Sunday at 16:00.
This will be followed by the ski flying in Vikersund (NOR) in three weeks' time as part of the Raw Air Tour and the season finale in Planica a week later.