Lukas Hlava, photo © FISskijumping.com
. world ski news : Hlava wins FIS Grand Prix qualification, Schlierenzauer in shape - 16 July 2011 - 20:44
SKI JUMPING. The FIS Summer Grand Prix 2011 started with the qualification in Wisla. The stars of last winter showed on the Adam-Malysz-Hill in southern Poland that they did their job also this spring. For example, Gregor Schlierenzauer from Austria showed the longest jump in the qualification round with 132 m. But because he was among the pre-qualified athletes he is not the winner of the qualification.
Also Kamil Stoch, who carries the hopes of the Polish fans after the career end of Adam Malysz, is already in a great shape. He jumped on 131 m.
Five Polish jumpers in the Top 10
The victory in the qualification went to Czech Lukas Hlava with a jump on 126 m and 120.0 points. He was followed by Germany's youngster Richard Freitag (118.6 points) and the third place went to local hero Krzysztof Mietus (118.1 points).
Lukas Hlava, photo © FISskijumping.com
The Polish athletes showed a strong performance today. Ahead of Robert Kranjec from Slovenia, Maciej Kot was fourth, the young Bartlomiej Klusek finished sixth. Dawid Kubacki was eighth, ahead of Piotr Zyla (9th). So five Poles were in the Top Ten. They already dominated as a team last summer.
Morgenstern the best in training
Already in training Thomas Morgenstern showed that he is a great athlete. He was the best in both rounds. Also Stoch seems to be on the right path to replace Adam Malysz. He was second and third.
Besides Freitag, also Severin Freund, Martin Schmitt and Maximilian Mechler showed good jumps for the German team. The Norwegians can also be satisfied: under the eyes of their new head coach Alexander Stoeckl, Tom Hilde, Bjoern Einar Romoeren and Johan Remen Evensen had good jumps in the qualification.
Eleven Poles in the competition
Sami Niemi, Juha-Matti Ruuskanen and Olli Muotka are not in shape yet. The three Finns were among the ten jumpers who could not qualify for the competition. Also the two Norwegians Andreas Stjernen and Ole Marius Ingvaldsen (disqualified) will not be able to compete in Sunday's competition.
The fans can look forward to seeing a lot of Polish athletes. Head coach Lukasz Kruczek nominated a national quota and they showed that they can do well. A total of eleven Polish jumpers qualified for the opening competition of the FIS-GP 2011.
FISskijumping.com
16.07.2011 18:15