Espen Bjørnstad best in Planica PCR

Norway’s Espen Bjørnstad has started his first international competition of the summer well: he came to Planica to promptly win the Provisional Competition Round with a distance of 136 metres. Runner-up was teammate Jens Lurås Oftebro (132 m, 128.6 p.) who would start a race 22 seconds behind Bjørnstad if the PCR has to be used on this final SGP weekend.

Grand Prix leader Franz-Josef Rehrl convinced with another good jump of 133 metres (125.7 p.) to take the third place, +0:33 after Bjørnstad. Czech Republic’s Ondrej Pazout also managed to brave the rainy and cold conditions well and was fourth (129.5 m, 125.3 p.) and followed two seconds after Rehrl. Espen Andersen, Einar Oftebro and last winter’s overall World Cup winner Jarl Magnus Riiber completed a good Norwegian team result with ranks five (+0:41), six (+0:43) and nine (+0:53).

The rest of the Top Ten spots were taken by Aguri Shimizu (7th), who followed in the footsteps of his third place here last year, Tschagguns-winner Fabian Rießle (8th) and Christian Deuschl (10th).

The unluckiest athlete of the day was Austrian Mario Seidl. The 26-year-old who just returned from an ACL injury during the Seefeld 2019 championships landed at 134 m in his second training jump but immediately fell down and was not able to leave the outrun on his own feet. He was brought to a hospital for further evaluation on his just healed knee. The entire Nordic Combined community is sending him the best wishes and hopes for a speedy recovery.

Final Results