Jurij Tepes celebrates first win in the World Cup
In front of his home crowd Jurij Tepes won an exciting final in Planica and captured his first World Cup win. The second place went to Rune Velta of Norway, followed by another Slovene, Peter Prevc.
Jurij Tepes took the lead already after he landed at 217 m and scored 218.2 points in the first round. With his 214 m in the final and a total of 425.5 points the Slovene could defend the first place and celebrated his first World Cup win.
Rune Velta came in second, after he was only sixth after his first jump on 207.5 m. With his great second jump on 217.5 m the athlete of Norway could move up to the second place and with his 423.7 points he missed the win by only 1.8 points.
The third place went to Tepes' teammate, Peter Prevc. The medalist of the WSC in Val di Fiemme completed a very strong weekend with his second individual podium at the Letalnica-hill. The 20-year-old Slovene showed jumps on 218 m and 212.5 m and scored 422.5 points.
Great day for Slovenes
It was a great competition, both for Slovenian athletes and the spectators, who attended the event. Besides Tepes and Prevc, also Robert Kranjec was one of the best on Sunday. He landed at 206.5 m and 209.5 and with this consistent performance came in sixth. Andraz Pograjc (186 and 185.5 m; 350.8 points) also presented himself well and finished as 24th.
Two athletes of German head coach Werner Schuster were in the Top 10. Severin Freund (206.5 m and 205.5 m; 404.9 points) and Michael Neumayer (209 m and 204.5 m; 401.8 points) came in ninth and tenth. Richard Freitag did not that well and finished 20th. Andreas Wank gained only one World Cup point with his 30th place, but he fell in the final round after a jump on 175.5 m.
None of the Austrian jumpers could achieve a Top 10 result. Gregor Schlierenzauer (198.5 m and 210 m; 400.7 points) was the best of Austria as eleventh. Wolfgang Loitzl (207.5 m and 194.5 m; 393.5 points) could not defend his seventh place from the first round and came in 14th, ahead of his teammate Martin Koch. Stefan Kraft was 22nd, followed by Manuel Fettner and the sixth competitor of Austria, Michael Hayboeck came in 29th.
Just like on Friday, Piotr Zyla was the best Pole also on Sunday. The 26-year-old scored 409.6 points and finished fifth. Kamil Stoch also was among the best ten jumpers of the final event and came in eighth. Maciej Kot and Dawid Kubacki were 18th and 21st.
Outstanding performance of Kasai
Noriaki Kasai of Japan was one of the main heroes of the World Cup Final in Planica. The veteran fell in the trial round but could participate in the very event. With his impressive second jump on 217.5 m he moved up from ninth to fourth. His teammates could not keep up with him. Daiki Ito was 17th and Taku Takeuchi came in 28th.
Denis Kornilov was the only Russian athlete to take part in the competition and performed well. He shared the sixth place with Robert Kranjec and achieved his best result this winter. Also the Czechs did well on Sunday. Both Jan Matura (12th) and Lukas Hlava (19th) were in the Top 20.
Trophies for Schlierenzauer and Norway
Gregor Schlierenzauer won the overall World Cup title 2012/13 with 1620 points. Anders Bardal (999 points) and Kamil Stoch (953 points) could defend their second and third places.
With a total of 544 points, Schlierenzauer also won the ski flying World Cup, followed by Robert Kranjec (407 points) and Andreas Stjernen (313 points).
Norway captured the Nation's Cup, only six points ahead of the Austrians, and is the best team of the winter.