After a successful season for the BWT athletes, the last event of this year's World Cup was also an exciting spectacle.
Austrian Stefan Kraft won both the individual competition in ski flying and the team competition. Besides Kraft, the Slovenian Anze Lanisek and the Polish jumper Piotr Zyla shared the podium. In the team competition, the Austrians were followed by the Slovenian team in second place and the Norwegian team in third place. On Sunday Granerud only reached 13th place in the daily ranking and so a 10-point lead before the competition turned into a 30-point gap. With 480 points Kraft secured the small crystal globe for the victory in the Ski Flying World Cup.
Granerud ended up in second place in the Ski Flying World Cup and celebrated extensively for winning the overall World Cup, in the overall World Cup Granerud had already led uncatchably before the final weekend in Planica.
It is the second time after 2020/2021 that the Norwegian can win the overall World Cup. Stefan Kraft and Anze Lanisek finished second and third in the overall World Cup. Actually, Poland's Dawid Kubacki would have been sure of a place on the podium, but Kubacki decided not to take part in the last competitions of the season due to an illness of his wife and thus slipped to fourth place in the overall ranking.
Anze Lanisek honored the Polish athlete and took him to the podium in printed form. A great and heartwarming sign in the history of ski jumping.
Halvor Egner Granerud:
"Thank you for an amazing season! Also a big thank you to Dawid, Stafan & Anze for the fights and motivation to always search for extra meters! And another thank you for the help of my sponsors!"
Granerud's success is due in part to his incredible consistency. He has been on the podium in 18 competitions of the World Cup and won 12 victories in. He also won the famous Four Hills Tournament and two silver medals at this year's World Ski Jumping Championships in Planica, cementing his status as one of the greatest ski jumpers of all time.
On the other hand, it is the strength to perform perfectly under high pressure. He always kept cool and executed his jumps with precision and grace.
But not only the young Norwegian had a successful season. Other BWT ski jumping athletes such as Dawid Kubacki, Piotr Zyla and Ryōyū Kobayashi also played in the top 10. Dawid Kubacki was one of Granerud's biggest competitors until the end. With a head-to-head race both jumped through the different competitions and delivered a breathtaking experience for the spectators. After an early termination of the World Cup due to family problems, the Polish athlete ended on 4th place in the overall World Cup 22/23. We congratulate him on his performance and wish him and his family the best and a quick recovery of his wife.
Besides Dawid Kubacki, his team colleague Piotr Zyla is one of the most successful ski jumpers this season. With the defense of his World Championship title and some more podiums in USA, Poland, Germany, Switzerland and Finland, the Pole managed to end the season with the 6 place.
Former World Cup winner Ryōyū Kobayashi also jumped among the top 5 in the end after a short warm-up phase in the first competitions and put in an outstanding performance especially in the USA, as well as the competitions in Japan. With a final result in the 5 place, a successful season also comes to an end for the Japanese this year.
In addition to the Top 10 athletes, many other BWT athletes also contributed to a successful and exciting World Cup. Together, another season the BWT eye-catching PINK color spread the companies vision - to provide water everywhere in the world in perfect drinking water quality straight from the tap. Through innovative, patented BWT technologies, local water is filtered and enriched with valuable minerals and trace elements such as magnesium, zinc or silicates. This eliminates the need to transport water in disposable plastic and glass bottles and the associated CO2 emissions.
We congratulate the overall winner and all the BWT ski jumping athletes on a successful 2022/23 season and wish all athletes a relaxing break before they start preparing for the Summer Grand Prix.