Poland's Dawid Kubacki produces longest jump of qualification at Four Hills event at Garmisch-Partenkirchen

ByThe Editorial Team

Updated 31/12/2022 at 16:25 GMT

The second Four Hills event of the season got underway on Saturday with the qualifying round. It saw a disappointing result for contender Karl Geiger, who had figured in predictions of potential winners, but managed only 30th place on Saturday afternoon. Poland's Dawid Kubacki, who holds the course record at Garmisch-Partenkirchen, could not be beaten and leads the pack into Sunday's main event.

Poland's Dawid Kubacki set the course record in the Four Hills event at Garmisch-Partenkirchen one year ago, and he returned to that form on Saturday as he produced the longest jump of qualifying.

Kubacki, who finished third in Oberstdorf earlier this week in the first event of the Four Hills, set himself up as the jumper to beat on Sunday.

Slovenia's Anze Lanisek and his compatriot Timi Zajc rounded out the top three.

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The second Four Hills event of the season had been expected to be a friendly place for Karl Geiger to show himself as a true contender, but instead the German finished down in 30th place.

Geiger had been fourth in the opening Four Hills event, but failed to bring that same form to bear.

Germany has been waiting 21 years for a local to win this event, and Geiger was widely tipped to break that streak.

"In general, I didn't start that well today," he said. "It wasn't a clean blade. That also has its reasons, we have to do better tomorrow."

'It was good to fly' - Kubacki after winning jump in Four Hills Garmisch-Partenkirchen qualifying

In happier news for the hosts, 10 Germans in total managed to qualify for tomorrow's event.

Philipp Raimund continued his strong start to the tour with a 9th placed finish, despite poor conditions and a strong tailwind.

Constantin Schmid finished just behind Raimund, while Stephan Leyhe was a little further back in 14th.

• Halvor Egner Granerud wins qualification for the first Four Hills event in Oberstdorf
• Halvor Egner Granerud dominates to win the first 2022/23 Four Hills event
• Eva Pinkelnig claims ski jump victory for a second straight day in Villach

Former world champion Daniel-Andre Tande surprisingly failed to qualify for the main event, while David Siegel, Finn Braun and Simon Spiewok (disqualified) also missed the cut.

The Four Hills tournament had been threatened by poor conditions and lack of snow in the build up, but was given the green light in mid-December following a cold change.

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