Russia's Evgeniy Klimov wins
first PCR of the season
Haavard Klemetsen second, Willi Denifl third
Evgeniy Klimov in Kuusamo - FIS/Silke Tegethof
After the Summer Grand Prix introduced Russia's
Evgeniy Klimov as Nordic Combined's new jumping
senstation, it looks as if the 19-year-old is there
to stay. Klimov won today's first PCR of the season
quite clearly ahead of Norway's jumping specialist
Haavard Klemetsen and Austria's Wilhelm Denifl.
Klimov wowed the crowd with a jump of 139,5 metres
which meant 141,3 points and a 27-second advantage
on Haavard Klemetsen on the cross-country track
should today's Provisional Competition Round have
to be used in case of bad weather.
Klemetsen followed with a jump of 132 metres (134,5
p.), Wilhelm Denifl set 129,5 metres (129,4 p.)
which would mean 48 seconds of time behind on the
track. Last year's overall World Cup winner Eric
Frenzel also proved that he is in good jumping shape,
coming in on the fourth place with 128 metres (123,4
p.). World Champion Jason Lamy Chappuis performed
slightly weaker with 123 metres (118 p.) and rank
eight.
The Top Ten were completed by a squad of comparatively
young athletes: Austrian Mario Seidl on five, Karl-August
Tirmaa from Estonia on six, Norwegian youngster
Sindre Ure Soetvik on a very good rank seven and
Tobias Haug from Germany on rank nine.
Not so lucky were 23 athletes who did not survive
the qualification. The most prominent names were
Tim Hug, Fabian Riessle, Maxime Laheurte and Alessandro
Pittin. Also, Taylor and Bryan Fletcher and their
teammate Todd Lodwick did not make it into the competition,
making this a black day for the American team along
with the disqualification of Billy Demong. Germany's
Tino Edelmann only ranked 61st but was saved for
the competition because he is among the Top Ten
pre-qualified athletes.
