Slovenia's Anze Lanisek crowned himself the "King of Chaikovsky" with his second Grand Prix win within just 24 hours. Under extremely difficult conditions, Lanisek had the best jump in the only competition round of the day with 109.5 m on the HS 102 normal hill. Earlier today the jury had already moved the competition from the HS 140 to the normal hill due to the difficult conditions. Towards the end of the first round the conditions got even worse and so the jury decided to cancel the final round.
Extreme conditions, extreme waiting
And even the first round was almost called off. During the course of the event, there were various delays, jumpers had to get off the gate again and again in order to wait for safe wind conditions. Before the final competitor of the round, Japan's Junshiro Kobayashi, it got so turbulent, that he had to get on and off the starting gate 12 times in a period of about 20 minutes. Kobayashi even had to return to the warming room due to the cold temperatures.
These circumstances made the jump of the Japanese even more remarkable: 105 m, 118.6 points, second place. "I had to wait very, very long before my jump and so I had to try to stay focused on my jump during the whole time. I wanted to win here, but of course, I'm very satisfied with my second place", said Kobayashi.
Lanisek in a league of his own
The outstanding athlete today was again Slovenia's Anze Lanisek. Like in his second jump on the large hill yesterday, the 21-year-old had yet another perfect jump on the normal hill. 109.5 m, 129.2 points and a lead of more than 10 points over second-placed Junshiro Kobayashi.
"Right after the take-off I realized that this jump could go really far and so I just wanted to fly. Then I also focused on the telemark. Jumping so far on a hill is the best feeling you can get as a ski jumper. It was not dangerous to jump that far because there was strong and stable head wind. That made it easy to land at 109.5 m. In Hinzenbach and Klingenthal I want to focus on my jumps, but of course, I also want to defend the Yellow Bib", said Lanisek, who took the overall lead in the Grand Prix with his two wins in Chaikovsky.
Klimov on the podium again
Local hero Evgeniy Klimov, second on Saturday, was on the podium again today. With 113.4 points, Klimov came in close ahead of the two Norwegians Kenneth Gangnes (4th; 0.1 points behind Klimov) and Halvor Egner Granerud (5th; 0.4 points behind Klimov). "I'm very happy about my second podium finish this weekend. The weather conditions were difficult today with the many delays. But I'm in a good shape and very motivated, it's going really well for me right now. Now I'mlooking forward to the competitions in Hinzenbach and Klingenthal." Johann Andre Forfang and Robert Johansson in eighth and ninth completed the top result for the Norwegian team.
Difficult conditions not unusual in Chaikovsky
Right behind Slovenia's Anze Semenic, the second-best Russian, Denis Kornilov, came in seventh. "The conditions were not unusual for Chaikovsky. We have been training here under similar conditions many times and also held Russian Championships under such conditions", explained Kornilov, who also left a strong impression this weekend.
Russians on the right track
The big winner of the weekend was the Russian team. Athletes representing this huge country were on the podium in both men's and both ladies' competitions and achieved even more strong results.
12th place for the best Finn
After the good team result of Finland yesterday, Antti Aalto came in on a good 12th place today. Best Austrian was Markus Schiffner in 14th, the three Swiss jumpers, Peier, Schuler and Deschwanden, can also be satisfied with the places 17, 18 and 19. The only German competitor in Russia, Martin Hamann, finished 36th.
The two final competitions of the FIS Grand Prix 2017 will be held on October 1st in Hinzenbach(AUT) and on October 3rd in Klingenthal (GER). Before the final events, Anze Lanisek leads the overall ranking ahead of Junshiro Kobayashi and Dawid Kubacki of Poland.
Source: fis-ski.com
