Andreas Wellinger, Krzysztof Biegun, Jurij
Tepes - FIS
A total of 20 00 fans saw a spectacular Ski Jumping
World Cup opening in Klingenthal. Krzysztof Biegun
(POL) took the win in this winter's first individual
World Cup event.
A delay of about three hours, a cancellation of
the second round, a voluntary withdrawal of Gregor
Schlierenzauer and Anders Bardal: The World Cup
opening in Klingenthal was a memorable event. That
underdog Krzysztof Biegun celebrated his first World
Cup win became almost a footnote. With 142.5 m the
young Pole took the lead very early in the competition.
Only Andreas Wellinger (132 m) and Slovenia's Jurij
Tepes (134.5 m) could keep up, finishing in second
and third.
The wind in Vogtland-Arena was strong and gusty
already in the morning, with up to 11 m/s at the
take-off table. The jury canceled the trial round
that was originally scheduled for 12:30. The first
round of the competition was postponed in 15-minute
intervals from 13:30 to 15:15. When the competition
finally started, the spectators saw some great jumps,
with Biegun's jump as the highlight. After about
half of the field jumped, the headwind decreased.
Favorites like Thomas Morgenstern (AUT) and the
Germans Andreas Wank and Severin Freund had no chance.
Andreas Wellinger and Jurij Tepes had more luck
and had good jumps that earned them a good position.
After World Champion Kamil Stoch struggled with
the wind and landed after 117 m the jury interrupted
the competition again. Only Anders Bardal (NOR)
and Gregor Schlierenzauer (AUT) were left at the
start. Then a surprise came a few minutes later:
Both voluntarily decided not to jump. It became
clear that the round would count as a result and
there would be no second jump.
That didn't matter to Biegun: "I didn't expect
to win here. I'm very happy. It was not easy, but
I was jumping well."
Second-place Andreas Wellinger was also happy about
his good start to the season: "I had a good
jump and I'm happy about the result. The competition
was not totally fair, but the result counts."
About the withdrawal of Bardal and Schlierenzauer
he added: "I would have waited for a decision
of the jury or the coach. But everyone has to make
his own decision."
Also Jurij Tepes was predominantly happy: "The
conditions were not easy. Of course I'm happy about
the result. I don't want to comment on the decisions
of the jury."
FIS stated about the confusing situation: Before
the start of the last athletes in the first round
of the competition, Anders Bardal (NOR) and Gregor
Schlierenzauer (AUT), there was a longer break due
to the wind conditions. During this break the two
athletes decided not to jump. Hence the result of
the first round counted without these two jumpers.
The wind conditions would have allowed a start,
this was reviewed confirmed by Miran Tepes. Alex
Stoeckl, coach of Anders Bardal, who decided not
to start, confirmed that the jury didn't make any
mistakes. The team of Austria issued a protest after
the first round, this protest was reviewed by the
jury and declined."
Whether the sporting value of this first World Cup
weekend was high or not, remains to be seen over
the next couple of weeks.
But there's no doubt that Austria and Norway still
have some work to do. Despite the cancellation of
the final rounds in both competitions, their performances
were not enough for a top result. Especially Anders
Bardal and Gregor Schlierenzauer underachieved in
the team competition.
Austria now has to hope that Andreas Kofler, who
fell in Klingenthal, will recover quickly. Kofler
lost his balance after the landing and crashed into
the side boards. After an initial check, the team
doctors diagnosed a bruised rib. The best Norwegian
in the individual competition was Ole Marius Ingvaldsen
as 13th, the rest of the team was not in the Top
25.
The Slovenes and the Germans earned attention this
weekend with podium results in the team and the
individual competitions. Poland closely missed the
podium in the team event, but they were rewarded
with Biegun's first win in the World Cup. The Japanese,
third in the team event, were also among the best
today with Taku Takeuchi as fourth. With Watase,
Kasai and Shimizu three more athletes of Japan were
in the Top 30.
The performance of the small Swiss team was also
a positive surprise. They closely missed the qualification
for the final in the team competition, but Simon
Ammann was seventh in the individual competition
and Gregor Deschwanden achieved his best World Cup
results as tenth. While Jan Matura missed the final
today as 32nd, veteran Jakub Janda came in at 12th
place.
Dimitry Vassiliev, on Saturday one of the reason
for the bad performance of the Russian team, he
was their best as 18th. The Russian shared this
place with Austrian Wolfgang Loitzl. With a 16th
place of Janne Ahonen and a 20th place of Janne
Happonen it was a good of the season for Finland.
The athletes of France and Italy were not among
the best today.