Freund leads halfway through ski flying worlds

HARRACHOV, Czech Republic (AP) — Severin Freund of Germany took the lead after the first two of four jumps at the ski flying world championships on Friday.

Severin was second after the first jump of 203.5 meters and cleared 191.5 meters in the second round for a total of 391.0 points.

Anders Bardal of Norway finished second with 379.9 points after jumps of 203.5 and 188.0 meters while Peter Prevc of Slovenia was third with 375.6 points for his jumps of 200.0 and 183.0 meters.

Japanese veteran Noriaki Kasai was fourth followed by double Olympic champion Kamil Stoch of Poland.

The remaining two rounds are scheduled for Saturday in the northern Czech resort while the team event will take place on Sunday.