A total of 11000 fans attended the two-day event and already got in the mood for the World Cup opening there seven weeks from now.

The summer series found a well-deserved winner in Jernej Damjan. The Slovene finished on the podium in four of the eight competitions he participated in, won in Almaty and closely missed the podium at the final in Klingenthal.

The veteran himself isn't so sure about was this success will be worth in winter. Last year he showed similarly strong performances in summer, but then he needed almost four months to do the same also in the World Cup. "I hope that this year I'll find a better formula which will allow me to compete in a good shape already from the start of the winter", Damjan was looking ahead.

Richard Freitag also proved how valuable a success in fummer can be. About half a year after he was only a spectator when the German team won Gold in Sochi and probably went through the most difficult phase of his career, he celebrated the win in Klingenthal. In the press conference he then let people look into his inner life: "This win is extremely important. I have some difficult months behind me and I was working hard. It's great that everything - the weather, the atmosphere and my performance - worked out so well." Damjan and Freitag are definitely two winners of this summer.

But there are more: For the first time in a long time the Russian team could achieve successes, Vladislav Boyarintsev raises hopes for the winter. The good results of Davide Bresadola might give the Italian team some additional self-confidence for the winter. Young Kilian Peier showed that there are not only Simon Ammann and Gregor Deschwanden in Switzerland.

And the teams of Romania and Kazakhstan scored some valuable Grand Prix points and might now have more planning reliability - not only for the upcoming winter, but also for the development of ski jumping in these countries.

Where there are winners, there are also losers. The fact that Kamil Stoch and Peter Prevc failed to make the cut for the final round in Klingenthal was certainly annoying for both of them. But it should not be a reason to worry because the winter is when it really counts. And that's actually the problem of the Summer Grand Prix. The training and preparation for the World Cup season is the top priority. Also for Phillip Sjoeen, who was the overall leader but skipped the final two events and returned home to Norway to train. The same applies for Simon Ammann, who almost skipped the entire summer series. There were also frequent changes within the German team, many young talents got the chance to compete and earn their spot on the team. This list could go on and some of the organizers had to suffer. First and foremost the dedicated and committed team in Almaty. Only 36 athletes took the trip to the city, that want to host the 2022 Olympic Games. That's a pity. But it also shows that the real highlights are coming up in winter. 4-Hills-Tournament, World Championships, World Cup.

And for all these events the FIS Grand Prix was a great appetizer.

Source: fis-ski.com