Had he not skidded, he would have tied the world record set by Stefan Kraft last year in Vikersund. In front of a crowd of 13,200 spectators, Johann Andre Forfang (241 m) won the qualification round, ahead of Anže Semenič (234 m) and Dawid Kubacki (224.5 m).

The Slovenian jumpers performed very well; of the 13 who took part in the qualification round, no fewer than ten qualified for the main competition.

Kranjec sets a new milestone
This was one of the best qualification rounds in Planica's history, even though the final 12 jumpers were affected by wind. A group of Slovenian jumpers at the beginning were an early indication that the jumps would be long. Cene Prevc opened the game and made a jump of 226.5 meters. He was followed by Jurij Tepeš and Robert Kranjec, both of whom jumped over 230 meters. Tepeš reached 235.5 meters, while Kranjec's jump measured 238 meters, making him the first ski jumper in history to complete 200 jumps of 200 meters or more.

"I held back somewhat during my jump, which is understandable. I hope I'll be able to add to it tomorrow," 36-year old Kranjec told TV Slovenia after his exceptional performance. For his magnificent jump, he received perfect scores of 20 from all five judges.

One personal best after another
Many competitors managed to set new personal bests in the qualification round, thrilling the more than 13,000 spectators who had gathered at the ski jump engineered by the Gorišek brothers. When Schlierenzauer, who was the 24th competitor to jump, skidded with both arms at a length of 253.5 meters, the jury drastically lowered the starting gate. As the qualification round continued, Forfang and Semenič (bib number 55) also made extremely long jumps, but the weather conditions deteriorated considerably after Semenič's jump.

The 40 best jumpers have qualified for the main competition, which will take place at 3 p.m on Friday. The team competition will follow on Saturday, while Sunday will see the finale featuring the best 30 jumpers of the season.