Always eagerly anticipated among athletes, teams and fans, the FIS Ski Jumping Grand Prix 2016 will kick off in Courchevel (FRA) next weekend.
With qualification for both men and ladies on Friday 15th July and individual competitions on Saturday 16th July, the famous summer series will embark on its 23rd edition for the men and fifth edition for ladies.
The FIS Ski Jumping Grand Prix will be part of the 14th July French National Day celebrations with plenty of festivities and many spectators on site.
The men will travel to seven other venues this summer where they will compete in ten competitions: Wisla (POL), Hinterzarten (GER), Einsiedeln (SUI), Hakuba (JPN), Chaikovsky (RUS), Hinzenbach (AUT) and Klingenthal (GER).
Meanwhile, the ladies will stop at Chaikovsky (RUS) for two more competitions after Courchevel.
Click here for the competition calendar.
Favourites
Ski Jumping queen Sara Takanashi (JPN) won last year’s FIS Grand Prix winning all five competitions and claiming a perfect 500 points. The 19-year-old is the queen of summer as she has won all editions of the Grand Prix since its premiere in 2012. She also claimed the World Cup crystal globe last winter.
While there is no clear favourite on the men’s side, all eyes will be on Peter Prevc (SLO) who won the FIS Ski Jumping World Cup, Four-Hills-Tournament and Ski Flying World Championships last season.
Prevc continued his winning streak at the first Continental Cup competitions last weekend in Kranj (SLO) by taking both individual victories.
New ski brands Slatnar and Verivox replace Elan and Fluege.de
New ski brands will be seen during the FIS Grand Prix as Fluege.de and Elan both ended production of jumping skis at the conclusion of last season.
Verivox has taken over the manufacturing role of Fluege.de along with most of its facilities and manpower. While the brand will be seen for the first time in Courchevel (FRA), Slatnar has already recorded its first triumph as the new ski manufacturer replacing Elan was used during the first Continental Cup competitions by the winner, Peter Prevc.
Source: fis-ski.com
