Michl and Kraftl – That was the 65th 4 Hills Tournament!

Beforehand: the 65th 4 Hills Tournament was a very turbulent tour for Michal Hayböck and stefan Kraft. A Tournament which had everything in it, from very positive as well as negative.

The omen for Michael and Stefan before the start of the 4 Hills Tournament were very different. While Stefan was able to secure solely Top-10 rankings, Michael had to fight with serious back problems. But after Michael’s victory in Engelberg, he also was ready for one of the season’s highlights.

In Oberstdorf both get off to a dream start. Stefan Kraft won in front of Kamil Stoch and buddy Michael hayböck.

Stefan was able to jump on the podium on the unloved Olympic Hill in Garmisch-Partenkirchen. And also Michael was able to jump in the Top-10 again.

Even the qualification in Innsbruck went amazing. Stefan was able to achieve a clear victory and Michael placed on 4. So all was set for a incredible event at the legendary Bergisel.

But then Michael and Stefan (and also other guys of the Austrian Team) got a gastrointestinel virus, which led to Michael not even starting at the competition and Stefan only extremely weakend. Furthermore Stefan was one of the guys with tough luck during the very windy competition in Innsbruck.

Stefan also hadn’t gained enough strenght again to seriously compete at the last 4 Hills station. But Michael was able to show a nearly impossible performance by jumping on the podium – two days after not even able to compete at the Bergisel.

So in the end, a very turbulent 4 Hills Tournament with a lot of good jumps, but very much tough luck.