Ski jumping: Kubacki’s long podium streak ends

Dawid Kubacki finished in sixth place in the FIS Ski Jumping World Cup competition in Sapporo, Japan.

Ski jumping: Kubacki third in World Cup competition in Sapporo

Dawid Kubacki of Poland came third in a World Cup individual ski jumping competition in Sapporo, Japan, on Saturday.

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The Polish jumper won the qualification round for Sunday’s contest. Then, in the first round, he jumped 131.5m, that left him in the second position behind Stefan Kraft from Austria, who reached 139m.

Various jumpers experienced different weather conditions, as the second round began amidst heavy snowfall, which was followed by sunshine. At the same time, the wind kept changing direction, which assisted some jumpers and hindered others.

Luck did not favour Kubacki as the conditions hampered his progress and a jump of only 126m brought him sixth place. It means that he has ended his outstanding streak of consecutive podium finishes. The run of 10 successive times on the podium is the third-longest streak in the history of the Ski Jumping World Cup. Only Finland’s Janne Ahonen and Peter Prevc from Slovenia managed more than Kubacki, with 13 and 12 respectively.

The winner was Kraft who again flew 139m in the second round, followed by Stephan Leyhe from Germany and Ryoyu Kobayashi representing Japan.

“It was not so bad, I was a bit unlucky in the second round. The trip to Japan can be summarised positively. Good jumps and very nice positions. I think I will leave with a smile,” Kubacki told the Polish public broadcaster after the contest.

Kamil Stoch finished the contest in the ninth position, while Piotr Żyła was 21st. Aleksander Zniszczoł did not qualify to the second round and ending up in 40th place.

Kraft’s victory enabled him to extend his lead in the overall classification. Germany’s Karl Geiger is in the second position, while Kubacki is third. Stoch occupies the sixth place, but there is a significant gap between him and the top five.