Kamil Stoch, Dawid Kubacki, Piotr Zyla and Maciej Kot, took the first ever win in a Ski Jumping World Cup team competition for Poland this evening in Klingenthal. Outstanding athletes of the team: Double Olympic champion Kamil Stoch and this summer's dominator Maciej Kot. The teams of Germany and Austria came in second and third.

With a total score of 1128.7 points, the Polish team had a clear lead of more than 40 points over the German team (987.1 points). "Poland was extremely strong here today so we are happy about the second place", Richard Freitag ungrudgingly acknowledged the fantastic performance of the Polish athletes.

Kamil Stoch summed up the competition for the enthusiastic Polish jumpers: "I feel great, this is a fantastic moment for our team. During the summer we made huge progress. Right now I just feel good, my shape is good and my jumps are consistent and on a high level. We did a good job in summer and also made some adjustments to my inrun position. Now I can really enjoy ski jumping again. Our coach made some changes, but these are our secrets."

Despite the clear defeat, the German team showed a strong performance. Their best was surprisingly Markus Eisenbichler, who clearly dominated his group with jumps of 137.5 m and 136 m. Andreas Wellinger, Severin Freund and Richard Freitag had some solid jumps and the team scored a total of 1087.2 points and finished second. "For me personally it was a good competition. I was able to show my best jumps, especially the second one was really good. I was working with Poland's coach Stefan Horngacher, he is a good coach. He is doing a good job in Poland and the team has already been strong. Even if it will be difficult, my goal is to be in the Top 6 tomorrow. I hope I'll be able to achieve that", Freitag analyzed the competition.

With 1086.3 points, the Austrian team of coach Heinz Kuttin missed the second place by only 0.9 points. Andreas Kofler, who is on his way back to old strength, was one of the best of his team. "I'm very happy about this result today, it has been a while since I stood on the podium. It was very close today between us and the German team, maybe luck will be on our side next time. It was a lot of fun jumping here today. My goal was to make it to the team again and I could achieve that. My main focus now is on the 4-Hills-Tournament and the World Championships in Finland."

Clearly behind the Top 3, the athletes of Norway, who are still struggling in the Vogtland-Arena, came in fourth. With their total of 1024.2 points, they were already more than 60 points behind Austria. Robert Johansson, Andreas Stjernen, Johann Andre Forfang and Daniel Andre Tande were at no point able to fight for the podium today. 

For the team of Slovenia, for many one of the favorites in this event, one outstanding jump of youngster Domen Prevc (145 m, the longest jump of the day) was not enough. The team of head coach Goran Janus finished only fifth.

The Czech Republic, Japan and Switzerland came in sixth, seventh and eighth.

Source: fis-ski.com