Kamil Stoch wins fan vote for "Athlete of the Year"
Kamil Stoch - FIS
At the end of an exciting 2013/14 season we asked the ski jumping fans on Facebook and twitter, whose performances impressed them the most during the past winter.
It is hardly surprising that Kamil Stoch got the most votes in the category "Athelte of the Year". With two Gold medals at the Olympic Winter Games in Sochi, the overall World Cup title and a total of six wins in the World Cup, the Pole showed an outstanding performance. The second place went to Noriaki Kasai, who became the oldest World Cup winner ever when he won in Bad Mitterndorf at age 41. In addition the Japanese won two medals in Sochi and was fifth in the overall World Cup. Peter Prevc of Slovenia, second in the overall World Cup, also a two-time medalist at the Olympics and third at the ski flying World Championships, came in third. Ski flying World Champion Severin Freund was fourth, followed by Anders Bardal and Thomas Diethart.
The title "Rising Star of the Year" went to Poland's Jan Ziobro. For the 22-year-old this was the first complete World Cup season and he took his first win in the World Cup in Engelberg in December. 4-Hills-Tournament winner Thomas Diethart took the second place. The third and fourth place went to the two team Olympic Champions of Germany, Andreas Wellinger and Marinus Kraus, ahead of the Austrians Michael Hayboeck and Stefan Kraft.
Rising Star of the Year:
1. Jan Ziobro - 50 %
2. Thomas Diethart - 26 %
3. Andreas Wellinger - 11 %
4. Marinus Kraus - 5 %
5. Michael Hayboeck - 5 %
6. Stefan Kraft - 3 %
The head coach of the Polish team, Lukasz Kruczek, clearly won the vote for "Coach of the Year". Especially the successes of Kamil Stoch and the many young jumpers in the World Cup team were probably decisive for this win. The second place went to Goran Janus of Slovenia, followed by Werner Schuster, whose German athletes won the Gold medal in the team competition at the Olympics in Sochi. Despite the win of the Nation's Cup, Alexander Pointner of Austria came in only fourth.
