Already in training and qualification, Markus Eisenbichler was able to convince with very long flights and tied the German record at 248 meters. In the competition he used in the first round with a shortened inrun length the headwind to sail down to 238.5 meters. Better again was only Ryoyu Kobayashi, who jumped 242 meters with another gate less inrun length. In the final, the tide turned and the headwind changed into tailwind, which forgave no mistakes in the jump. The German had to submit in the final and could hardly jump over the green laser line of the leader Piotr Zyla (POL). But thanks to his almost perfect style points he could take the lead with eight points ahead. The 233 meters of the German was a distance that Kobayashi could reach quite well - and would normally do it easily. But with the slight tailwind he could not show his usual strength and remained clearly behind. Markus Eisenbichler celebrated his first World Cup victory and in the Leader's Box he fell into the arms of his permanent rival this winter. With the victory he also took the lead in the ski flying World Cup with four points lead. "It has taken a long time to win a competition and winning here in Planica is great for me, it's always a great atmosphere. I like the hill very much, today was a very good competition for me and I am overjoyed", he said. Eisenbichler's team-mate Karl Geiger (GER, Fischer) celebrated with the winner - he came in ninth, after he showed here in Planica significantly better jumps than before in Vikersund. Peter Prevc (SLO, Fischer) finished tenth and can attack again tomorrow with the favored Slovenian team. Stefan Kraft (AUT, Fischer) was only 14. Every jump was a bit shorter than the others in Planica, the air seems to be out at the end of a long season.
