Ten days from now the men's Continental Cup will take place in Lahti. Two individual competitions on the large hill will be held at this traditional venue in Finland, and the preparations for the event are on track.
"The preparation of the large hill started already last week and the last word was, that the hill will be ready for jumping on Thursday this week", said Jarkko Laine, competition coordinator in Lahti.
The organizers expect a big field of competitors and some well known names on December 20th and 21st. "At the moment the Finnish team has a quota of three jumpers in the World Cup. This means that the home crowd will see many jumpers from the national team competing in Lahti, like Ville Larinto, Anssi Koivuranta and Jarkko Maeaettae. Other interesting names will be Martin Koch and Martin Schmitt. From the young and rising stars Klemens Muranka and Nejc Dezman must be mentioned. Both are medalists of Junior World Championships", told Jesse Kiuru, Event Director of the Lahti Ski Games.
Besides a new wind net, that was built in February, also the wind and gate compensation rule shall ensure fair competitions. "This gives us more flexibility in carrying out the competitions and of course it reduces the influence of the conditions on the results", explained Jarkko Laine.