Halvor Egner Granerud tops Bischofshofen qualifying from Dawid Kubacki to set up thrilling Four Hills finale

Halvor Egner Granerud topped qualifying for the finale of the 2022-23 Four Hills tournament at a rainy Bischofshofen from Dawid Kubacki and Anze Lanisek.

It’s the same top three as the overall Four Hills standings, with Granerud 23.3 points ahead of Kubacki and 54.3 points in front of Lanisek.

Granerud is looking to be the first Norweigan Four Hills champion since Anders Jacobsen in 2006-07.

“It makes the chances of equal conditions really high since the top three in the qualification is the same as the overall,” Greanerud said after qualifying.

“But other than that, you don’t get any points from the qualification into the competition but at least showed three nice jumps today.

“I’ve slept really good the last couple of days so hopefully I can sleep well tonight too.”

Austria’s Clemens Aigner was the fifth to jump and remained at the top of the standings for the majority of the event before the top jumpers went.

Peter Prevc was the first to knock Aigner off the top with a great jump of 133.5m. Defending Four Hills champion Ryoyu Kobayashi then slotted into second and Kamil Stoch produced a brilliant effort to storm into the lead after his 137m jump.

Stoch’s performance put him in fourth after the Big Three of ski jumping this season completed their jumps.

Michael Hayboeck finished fifth, with compatriot Stefan Kraft in sixth, then came Prevec, Kobayashi and Aigner.

Unlike Innsbruck, Karl Geiger did qualify, but only in 25th, while Daniel-Andre Tande continued to struggle down in 35th.

Olympic champion and Eurosport expert Martin Schmitt believes Granerud is the jumper to beat in the finale on Friday.

“We saw a fantastic qualification round and the best in the overall rankings were the best today.

“Dawid struggled a bit with his landing but is still on a high level. He will need to improve a bit if he wants to win but Halvor is in such great shape.

“He probably has the highest potential and is my favourite for he competition and, of course, the overall title.”