Local heroes Kubacki and Kot take double victory in Wisla

After their success in Friday's team competition, the team of head coach Stefan Horngacher celebrated a double victory in their home event on Saturday. Germany's Karl Geiger surprised in third.

Dawid Kubacki won the individual competition in Wisla (POL) with a total of 255.6 points ahead of his teammate Maciej Kot (252.2 points) and Karl Geiger of Germany (251.5 points).

The atmosphere on the first weekend of the FIS Grand Prix 2017 in Wisla was outstanding. The two local heroes Dawid Kubacki (128 m and 132.5 m; 255.6 points) and second-placed Maciej Kot (133 m and 127.5 m; 252.2 points) made the crowd in the sold out stadium in Wisla go crazy. Karl Geiger (130 m and 128 m; 251.5 points) from Oberstdorf finished third with his two strong jumps.

After the first round it didn't seem as if Kubacki would be able to win, he was only sixth with his jump of 128 m. A perfect jump of 132.5 m in the final then earned him today's victory. "This competition was really amazing, it was a lot of fun. After the first round I didn't expect that I would be able to win. The first jump was not as good as it could have been, so I needed a really good jump in the second round to fight for the top. This weekend I was the best athlete and I'm really happy that I could achieve such good results. Now I'll just continue to do my job in the competitions, nothing more, nothing less. I'm expecting a really good, exciting summer with a lot of fun and a lot of good fights on the hill", Kubacki said after the competition.

For last year's winner Maciej Kot his second place was a bit of a disappointment today after he was in the lead after the first round. "I'm a bit disappointed about my second jump. I had some problems in the air, like in the first round yesterday. I had this same problem right after the take-off also in winter and sometimes it's hard to control it. The first jump was really good. Dawid had two very good jumps and so he deserved to win. The whole weekend was very good for our team. Every competition in Poland is special for me, the Polish fans are amazing."

Geiger surprises in third

Karl Geiger had to consistent jumps on a high level and surprisingly finished third this evening. "I honestly didn't expect to achieve such a good result here. I had by far my best jumps of the weekend in this competition today, at first I was struggling a bit here. Now I'm just extremely happy that I could be on the podium. The entire team trained well so far this summer, but it's still very early in the season so not everybody is in top shape yet. Hopefully we'll see another great show and an exciting competition again in Hinterzarten and hopefully I can finish in the Top 10 again." Besides Geiger, also Stephan Leyhe achieved a great result for Germany in ninth.

Norwegians strong

Daniel Andre Tande once again proved his very good shape that early in the season. With jumps of 125.5 m and 126 m, the Norwegian came in fourth. His teammate Kenneth Gangnes could also show a convincing performance and was eighth after a more than a year-long break due to a knee injury. Robert Johansson showed his huge potential in the second round and completed the strong team result of the Norwegians with his 10th place. Stefan Hula was fifth and the third-best athlete of the Polish team.

Schlierenzauer best Austrian

Best of the Austrians was Gregor Schlierenzauer in 12th, Florian Altenburger was 15th, Clemens Aigner 22nd and Andreas Kofler 24th.

Italians with great results

Three Italian jumpers made the cut for the final of the Top 30. Their best was Sebastian Colloredo in seventh. Davide Bresadola in 17th and Alex Insam in 23rd made coach Lukasz Kruczek happy. "We are kind of like at home here", Sebastian Colloredo told after the competition. Coach Kruczek lives only a few kilometers from Wisla and the Italian team is training on this facility a lot.

Many well-known athletes failed to qualify for the final round in this competition on a very high level. Among them were double Olympic champion Kamil Stoch of Poland, Germany's Richard Freitag and Vincent Descombes Sevoie of France. Andreas Wank was disqualified after his first jump. "The band in the suit exceeded the limit of tolerance", equipment controller Sepp Gratzer explained the decision of the jury.

After his win, Dawid Kubacki leads the overall ranking of the Grand Prix with 100 points, ahead of Maciej Kot (80 points) and Karl Geiger (60 points). Poland leads the Nations Cup with 647 points, followed by Norway (468 points) and Germany (401 points).

The Grand Prix continues on July 29th in Hinterzarten (GER).