Title at the Junior Worlds also for Slovenian men's team
After the victory of their female colleagues a few hours earlier, the Slovenian men's representation also took the team event in Liberec by storm and can now proudly call themselves the new junior world champions. Anze Semenic, Ernest Prislic, Cene Prevc and final jumper Jaka Hvala secured the gold medal in a thrilling competition ahead of Poland and Germany.
Due to forecasts of increasing wind towards the evening hours, the jury decided to begin the competition an hour earlier. This decision definitely paid off, as both rounds were luckily carried out without any problems. The Slovenian team was able to put themselves at the head of the field already at halftime, beating Poland and Germany by a margin of 10.5 points. The spectators got the chance to experience an event with stellar jumps on a high level performed by Semenic (97.5 and 98.5 meters), Prislic (95.5 and 100.5 meters), Prevc (101.5 and 102.5 meters) and Hvala (101 and 107 meters), who were of course rewarded with a much-deserved gold (1086.5 points). "This was a really exciting competition and we were ultimately the lucky ones. Every one of us did his job today, which is a great success for our team. Now is the time to celebrate accordingly," enthused Jaka Hvala, who can now leave Liberec with the maximum yield of two gold medals.
Second place went to the Polish team, which also showed high-quality jumps and secured their silver medal practically from the very beginning of the competition. Bartlomiej Klusek, Krzysztof Biegun, Aleksander Zniszczol and Klemens Muranka represented Poland today and ended up just behind the winners from Slovenia with a total of 1062 points. "I am so happy and want to thank my entire team. Everybody did a great job, it has really been a great weekend," said Muranka happily, also having achieved quite a bit in Liberec, taking two silver medals home with him.
Exciting fight for third place
The battle for third place between Germany and Austria made today's competition especially exciting. After the first round, the German team was in the lead, just 5.5 points ahead of their colleagues from Austria. In the second round, the difference between the two teams melted down to merely one point before the efforts of their final two jumpers. Andreas Wellinger finally won the duel against Stefan Kraft and was thus able to secure a medal for his team. "We knew from the start that it would be difficult today. The fact that it was such a close fight for third place with the Austrians again has of course made it doubly exciting, and we were nervous there for a moment. But I managed to show the best jump and I'm that much happier, "said Andreas Wellinger, describing their rivalry from his perspective. Together with Karl Geiger, Michael Dreher and Tobias Loeffler, he was ultimately able to collect 1038.5 points and can satisfy his medal hopes with this hard-earned bronze.
A total of 13 nations participated in today's team competition. Teams from the USA, Italy, Switzerland, France and Czech Republic were unable to secure themselves spots among the best eight teams to start in the final round. Fourth place went to Austria, who missed the podium by a 4.5 points, and they were followed by Norway, Japan, Russia and Finland.