The ski leaping world waits to see whether or not Beijing’s triple Olympic gold medalist Kamil Stoch will get better from an ankle damage, however even when the pole is match, Japan’s Ryoyu Kobayashi has one strategy to overcome the problem. Have to face robust work.
Stoch received each particular person gold in 2014, efficiently defended the large hill title in 2018 and added a workforce bronze, however he struggled for kind this season and suffered a serious setback on January 12, sustaining his damage.
He is at present present process a fast-track restoration regime, however the prospect of one other gold or perhaps a podium spot in a sport the place the large occasion shock isn’t any shock is beginning to look slim. More than able to take the baton is Kobayashi, who’s bidding to turn into the primary Japanese jumper to win gold on overseas ice since Kazuyoshi Furnaki’s residence success in Nagano 1998, when Japan additionally received workforce gold, and at Sapporo. Yukio Kasaya 50 years in the past.
Kobayashi is the clear chief of the World Cup going into the video games and he underlined his kind with a dominant efficiency on the Four Hills event, the place he received three of the 4.
However, hanging onto a 25-year-old is a comparatively poor main occasion CV. He completed solely seventh and tenth in Pyeongchang and made the highest 10 solely as soon as in his 4 World Championships occasions. Should he slip to the large stage once more, there are a selection of contenders on the market able to step as much as the plate.
Austrian Daniel Huber, a double World Championship silver medalist, Germany’s Karl Geiger – at present second within the World Cup standings – and a robust Norwegian contingent that features three-time Olympic medalist Robert Johansson, are all anticipated to be within the hunt. Chances are.
The girls will compete on the Olympics for the third time on a traditional hill, though 2018 champion Maran Lundby of Norway has opted to not defend her title for well being causes, citing the strain of attempting to regulate her weight to stay aggressive. .
Austria’s Marita Kramer appears to be the favourite after dominating the World Cup circuit, whereas Japan’s Sara Takanashi, bronze medalist in 2018 and 61 World Cup victories on the age of 25, ought to be within the combine.
The males will compete on the conventional hill on 6 February and the massive hill on 12 February, with the ladies’s particular person competitors on 5 February. The males’s workforce occasion might be held on February 14, with a combined workforce occasion for the primary time. on February 7
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With inputs from TheIndianEXPRESS
