SKI JUMPING. The first FIS Grand Prix competition in Kazakhstan ended with a premiere. 22-year-old Jurij Tepes from Slovenia won a high-class competition on the new hill in Almaty. With 260.7 points the son of Miran Tepes, who is operating the starting light in the World Cup for years, achieved his first victory in the GP.

"Of course it's a great feeling to celebrate my first victory here. Both jumps were good, I think I was also the best in the final round. I didn't really notice what happened before me because I was focused on myself and my jump" said the very happy winner.

Sinkovec praises Almaty - the city and the hill

And the Slovenes could even celebrate a double victory because Jure Sinkovec (250.8 points) was on the podium for the first time as second. "I'm very satisfied with the jumps and of course also with the result", said Sinkovec, who also praised Almaty and the hill. "This is a nice city and the hill here is great.

The third place went to Norway's Anders Fannemel (250.5), who replaced his teammate Tom Hilde on the podium. Hilde came in only tenth on the Kazakh national holiday. "My jumps are getting better and better", said Fannemel, who was already showing good performances in Hakuba. "I really enjoyed it."

Zografski closely missed the podium

Bulgarian Vladimir Zografski was fourth and missed his first podium result by only 1.9 points with his total of 248.6 points. Piotr Zyla was the best of the Polish team as fifth, followed by the best Russian Pavel Karelin. Dejan Judez (7th) and Mitja Meznar (12th) completed the top result of the Slovenian team of the new head coach Goran Janus. For the Czech Republic, Borek Sedlak closely missed the Top 10 as eleventh but showed that his shape is on the up.

Under increasing tailwind the jumpers got a longer inrun, but the conditions became more and more difficult. In spite of these problems, most athletes were able to show good jumps.

Best German only 13th

The Germans, who competed in Kazakhstan with some young enforcement, could all score points, but weren't able to achieve a top result. Andreas Wank was their best as 13th. David Winkler and Markus Eisenbichler could finish ahead of Michael Neumayer, who fell in the outrun.

Two Kazakhs scored points

Unfortunately Slovakian Tomas Zmoray could not reach the final round after he had shown good performances in training. Surprisingly also ski flying world record holder Johan Remen Evensen from Norway could also not score points today and had to realize that there's still a lot of work to do for him until the winter.

Two out of the seven Kazakhs could qualify for the final round. But there were only 39 participants so only nine did not make the cut for the second round. Cheered on by the spectators, Alexey Korolev (25th) and Evgeni Levkin (26th), who won the Asian Winter Games on this year in February, could score points for the hosts.

Morgenstern close to overall victory

Thomas Morgenstern, who did not take part in the three competitions in Asia, is close to winning the overall ranking. He now has a lead of 150 points with only two more competitions to go. After 2003 and 2007, this would be the third overall victory for the Austrian. With that he would close up to Adam Malysz who won in 2001, 2004 and 2006.

FISskijumping.com
30.08.2011 17:49

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Enthusiasm in Almaty: Great hill - huge interest

It is a brand new hill, that was built in Almaty on the outskirts of Kazakhstan's largest city. And it arouses lots of enthusiasm. Among officials and fans. Hundreds of fans already came to watch the trainings on Monday to see the world's best athletes. The atmosphere was already great during the first jumps.

In training Tuesday morning Tom Hilde proved that he is still in the top shape he showed in Hakuba. With jumps on 131 m and 130 m he was the best in the first and the third round. His teammate Anders Fannemel had the longest jump in the second round. So the Norwegians seem very well prepared.

Zmoray suprised in training

Piotr Zyla from Poland also showed some good jumps. Tomas Zmoray from Slovakia surprised as second and third, and also Germany's Andreas Wank did well. Taku Takeuchi, who was on the podium twice in Hakuba, will not compete in Almaty.

A Continental Cup and the Winter Asian Games in February 2011 were already held at the facility on the Gorny Gigant, the mountain on the outskirts of town. Kamil Stoch from Poland won both COC events last summer, one ahead of Jakub Janda from the Czech Republic and one ahead of Bulgarian Vladimir Zografski.

The Kazakhs celebrated a home victory of Evgeni Levkin at the Asian Games, Kazuya Yoshioka won Silver for Japan, ahead of Radik Zhaparov, also from Kazakhstan. Now some of the top jumpers travelled to the former capitol of the upcoming former soviet republic to fight for FIS GP points on Tuesday.

The organizers are expecting many spectators because on Tuesday is the national holiday in Kazakhstan. The citizens celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Kazakh constitution. So there'll be lots of reason to celebrate when the ski jumpers will compete on Tuesday in Almaty. By the way, the hill record is held by Poland's Marcin Bachleda with 138 m. Long jumps are possible on the "International Jump".

FISskijumping.com
29.08.2011 14:57

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