. world ski news : Wank defies the heat - first win! - 19 August 2012 - 19:24
SKI JUMPING. Andreas Wank captured the home victory. The German won on the "Adlerschanze" in Hinterzarten and really defied the heat. Under very hot temperatures Wank was unbeatable and celebrated his first ever victory in the FIS GP.
"I have been for my home Grand Prix here in Hinterzarten. I'm happy that I was able to deliver two good, but not very good jumps. This gives me something to work on, but the win is good for my self-confidence. Now I'm looking forward to Hakuba next weekend."
Behind Wank, who reached a total of 254.7 points, the second went to this summer's shooting star: Japanese Reruhi Shimizu, who won in Courchevel. The 18-year-old was in the lead after the first round, but was totally happy with his second place (249.7 points). The third man on the podium was Czech Lukas Hlava with 247.8 points. Strong Norwegian Tom Hilde finished fourth (246.1 points). "It was a very nice day and I would like to thank the organizers. I now plan to compete again in Hinzenbach", said Hlava.
"This was a very special day for me because for the first time I was competing together with Noriaki Kasai on an international level. Of course that's an honor", told Shimizu, who was clearly better than his idol today. Kasai was 15th.
Yuta Watase completed the strong result of Japan with his fifth place, followed by the best of the Polish team, Dawid Kubacki. Piotr Zyla was seventh. With Roman Koudelka (8th) another Czech was in the Top 10 this afternoon. Sebastian Colloredo (9th) and Richard Freitag (10th) showed some improvement.
Poland's Maciej Kot, who was the overall leader so far, came in 11th and could not defend his top position. Wank now leads ahead of Shimizu.
History repeated itself a little bit in Hinterzarten. Wank, Shimizu, Hilde and Kubacki were on top again. Only Hlava was not among the best so far this summer.
Gregor Schlierenzauer could not take part in the competition because he was disqualified in the qualification due to his suit. Anders Bardal, overall World Cup winner of Norway, was 13th today, close ahead of Swiss Simon Ammann (15th). Michael Hayboeck was the best Austrian as 14th.
Slovenes not in the good shape of last winter
The jumpers from Slovenia are not in a good shape yet, Peter Prevc and Robert Kranjec could not qualify for the final round. Also Dejan Judez and Jurij Tepes failed to make the cut for the Top 30. So 22-year-old Matjaz Pungertar was their best as 23rd. With Mackenzie Boyd-Clowes and Matthew Rowley two Canadians could score points - respect.
The Summer Grand Prix continues next week in the home country of the Japanese shooting stars. The next competitions will be held in Hakuba.
FISskijumping.com
19.08.2012 13:07