Gold glamour and team triumph: Stefan Kraft becomes ski flying world champion, silver also for Michi Hayböck with the team

Ski Flying World Championships on home soil – a season highlight in a class of its own. Stefan Kraft and Michael Hayböck both travelled to the medal deciders in ski flying with slight injuries and the weather also had a lot in store.

The qualification on Thursday was cancelled due to strong winds, which increased the tension for the following days.

The JumpandReach family, centred around strategic companion Patrick Murnig, was represented at Kulm in Styria throughout the weekend. For Michi and Stefan, it was all about realising the concepts they had developed, but also about managing their energy in order to be able to perform well until the last day.

The first two competition runs took place on Friday, which demanded everything from the athletes. At the “halfway point” Stefan Kraft was in 2nd place, Michi Hayböck in 8th. The capricious weather with strong gusts of wind continued on Saturday, which didn’t stop the fans from creating a great atmosphere. In the end, it was possible to organise a scoring run that rewarded fans and athletes alike and was hard to beat in terms of excitement. Particularly impressive was the strong performance of Stefan Kraft, who showed off all his experience and “flying strength” and was crowned ski flying world champion in front of thousands of home fans. A dream come true! Michael Hayböck finished the individual competition in a strong eighth place.

Sunday was rewarded with blue skies and sunshine and the Austrian team put on a great flying show in the team competition. The performance of Stefan Kraft and Michael Hayböck, alongside team-mates Jan Hörl and Manuel Fettner, was strong – only Slovenia was in a class of its own. Team Austria took the silver medal behind Team Slovenia and ahead of Team Germany! Michael Hayböck’s impressive performance in the team competition deserves special mention, because if this had been an individual competition, he would have flown to victory on the day.

The challenging conditions and the impressive performances of the athletes made this Ski Flying World Championships an unforgettable event – both for the fans and for the entire JumpandReach family.