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Granerud wins Four Hills opener as Kobayashi flops
Norway's Halvor Egner Granerud won ski jumping's Four Hills opening round on Thursday as defending champion Ryoyu Kobayashi of Japan flopped in 15th place.
Granerud scored 312.4 points for his two jumps, which included an impressive 142.5m, to defeat Polish pair, Piotr Zyla (at 13.4 points) and Dawid Kubacki (17.5 points).
It was a 15th career win for the 26-year-old Norwegian who also took over the overall lead in the World Cup standings.
Last year, Kobayashi claimed the prestigious Four Hills title before going on to win Olympic gold and a second World Cup.
However, the 26-year-old suffered a miserable return to the German Alps on Thursday.
He was 55.8 points off the lead with jumps of 124.5m and 120.5m, finishing a lowly 15th at the 27,000-seater venue.
The second round of the Four Hills takes place on Sunday at Garmisch-Partenkirchen in Germany before moving onto Innsbruck (Jan 4) and Bischofshofen (Jan 6).
H. Müller--BTZ
