Viktor Polasek takes the gold at Junior World Championships
Aug 31, 2018·Ski Jumping
At the FIS Junior World Championships in Park City (USA), where Simon Ammann won two Olympic gold medals in 2002, the men's individual title went to Viktor Polasek.
The Czech, who already won a COC this year and showed a strong performance with an 18th place in the World Cup in Zakopane, was the best in both rounds on the HS 100 with 97 m and 96.5 m and took the gold with 263.2 points. In his third Junior World Championships the 19-year-old can now celebrate winning his first medal.
"It feels great to be Junior World Champion now. Last year I was fourth and I expected to be better this time. So I'm extremely satisfied now", the new World Champion said after the competition.
With jumps of 97 m and 95 m and 260.6 points, Alex Insam of Italy won the silver medal. "For me the training went pretty well, which is why I went into the competition with high expectations. I'm happy that I could fulfill these expectations. This is really by biggest success so far", the 19-year-old said afterwards.
Constantin Schmid of Germany was chasing the podium after the first round in fourth with 92.5 m, 96.5 m in the final then earned him his podium finish. Only 0.2 points behind Insam he took bronze and that in his first ever Junior World Championships. "After the training I didn't expect that I would be on the podium in the end. I'm very happy that things worked out so well for me", said the only 17-year-old of the ski club in Oberaudorf.
Slovenia's Bor Pavlovcic could not keep up with the German in the final round and finished fourth, only 1.8 points behind the Top 3. He was followed by Masamitsu Ito of Japan and his teammate Ziga Jelar in fifth and sixth. Pawel Wasek was the best Pole in seventh.
With Casey Larson in eighth, the hosting team of the USA could also achieve a very good result. "I hoped I could have my best jumps and then I can't worry about what place I'm in after that, just because I know I'll be happy. I put down two solid jumps that I was really pumped about, so I really can't complain about anything today", said Larson.
Tilen Bartol of Slovenia came in ninth, the best athletes of Austria and Norway, Markus Rupitsch and Fredrik Villumstad, were tenth and eleventh.
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