Kristjan Ilves sets exclamation mark in PCR in Planica

Estonian Kristjan Ilves is on a good way to work his way to the front of the Summer Grand Prix rankings: in today’s PCR he impressed with the longest jump of the day (138.5 m) and the victory.

12 seconds will separate Ilves from pursuer Maxime Laheurte, who landed at 137 metres today, if the Provisional Competition Round has to be taken into account. In his pursuit, Laheurte would be supported from two teammates: Laurent Muhlethaler and Jason Lamy Chappuis both had strong jumps of 133 and 137.5 metres (125.8 and 123.8 p.). The would leave the start line 25 and 33 seconds after Ilves.

In total, the French team had a very strong jumping performance in today’s round with Francois Braud and Antoine Gerard also entering the Top Ten on ranks nine and ten. Jan Schmid and Espen Andersen upheld the Norwegian honour with positions five and seven, Taihei Kato and Yoshito Watabe represented the Japanese team on positions six and eight.

At his international comeback, Norwegian Jarl Magnus Riiber did not show his best jumps today and finished the PCR on position 14 only. Unluckiest athlete of the round was German Tobias Simon, who had already struggled in the second training round. In the PCR, he was not able to avoid a crash at 87 metres. Luckily, he did not sustain any serious injuries after a first examination.