COC-M: Victory for Maximilian Mechler
Two competitions of the Continental Cup are held in Vikersund (NOR) this weekend. But the athletes don't fight for wins and points on the world's largest hill there, but on the normal hill.
The first competition on Friday evening ended with a great result of the German team. Maximilian Mechler, who was fourth after his first jump on 115 m, showed a jump on 119 m in the final and took his first win in the COC after almost exactly two years with 272.2 points.
"Today it was almost perfect here in Vikersund! I’m really happy with my jumping and the conditions were quite excellent. When the sun went down, we got a little less head wind. Tomorrow the competition is in the middle of the day and then maybe we can jump three to four meters longer", told Mechler.
The second place went to Jan Ziobro of Poland, who captured the spot on the podium with 115 m in the first round and the longest jump of the day on 119.5 m (269.6 points) in the final. "I had two good jumps today, and I hoped that I could win. Tomorrow is a new day, and then I will do everything to get back on the podium, maybe at the top."
He was followed by the next two Germans. Marinus Kraus, who won both competitions last weekend in Liberec, once again proved his very good shape also in Vikersund and came in third with consistent jumps on 116.5 m and 115 m (268.2 points). "The competition today was good, my first jump was the best. In the second jump I was a little too aggressive. We had a very good team performance today."
Pius Paschke completed the outstanding result of the German team as fourth. He was closely followed by Czech Antonin Hajek, who came in fifth and achieved his best result this winter.
Poland's Krzysztof Biegun was sixth, followed by the best athlete of the hosts in today's competition, Kim Rene Elverum Sorsell.
The best Slovene in this event was Anze Semenic as eighth. The only 17-year-old Swiss Kilian Peier was ninth and achieved his first ever Top 10 result in the Continental Cup.
Rok Justin of Slovenia was second after the first round, but he lost his chances to achieve a podium result with a second jump on only 108.5 m. At the end his performance earned him the tenth place.