Kraft, who won this event in 2014, qualified in third position yesterday in the German resort with a jump of 136 metres and 151.1 points.

Today though, Kraft produced a first jump of 137m and a second of 135m to give him an unassailable lead of 308 points.

Poland's Kamil Stoch finished in second, sandwiched between two Austrians as Michael Hayboeck rounded off the top three.

Stoch reached distances of 137m and 135m which combined to give him a total score of 305.2 points while Hayboeck was well behind in third with an overall total of 296.2.

Jumps of 135m and 133m pushed Hayboech into third ahead of Norway’s Daniel Andre Tande.

Tande finished top of the qualification standings yesterday but failed to miss out on a podium position as he finished in fourth place.

Double Olympic medallist Peter Prevc is the reigning champion in the prestigious series and he led momentarily before slipping to tenth with a score of 281.8 points.

Further down the rankings, last year's Obertsdorf winner Severin Freund of Germany could only manage a 20th place finish in front of 25,000 fans. 

Prevc's brother Domen, the current overall World Cup leader, endured a poor day as he finished way back in 26th place but retained his lead in the overall standings.

Following the conclusion of the first leg in Oberstdorf, the Four Hills Tournament will continue on Sunday (January 1) at another German hill, Garmisch-Partenkirchen.

It will then move to Austria for competitions in Innsbruck and Bischofshofen on January 4 and 6 respectively.

A record 126,000 fans attended the Four Hills Tournament during the 2015-16 campaign.