COC-M: Stefan Huber defeats the Slovenians in Planica
Feb 01, 2020·Ski Jumping
Austria's Stefan Huber won the first competition of the Continental Cup in Planica and with his top performance, he was the only one who could prevent a podium sweep of the hosting team.
The 25-year-old was third after the first round with 131.5 m, with his second jump of 126.5 m and 252.0 points, he could then claim his sixth win in the Continental Cup, the second this winter. "I am very happy with this day. The last weekend wasn’t really good for me, so I’m happy that I could show good jumps again. I didn't expect to win here. My goal is the World Cup and I still have to improve a lot, but right now I’m satisfied with my jumps", told the winner.
Today's winner was followed by three athletes of the Slovenian team. With 250.8 points, the second place went to Anze Semenic, who had the best jump in the first round with 135 m and was not able to defend his half-time lead with 118 m. But he still made it to the podium for the first time this season. "I made two good jumps today, in the trail round and in the first round. Things didn’t work out in the final round, the jump was bad. I hope for a nicer competition tomorrow when I’ll have another chance", explained Anze Semenic.
Ziga Jelar was only 13th after the first half of this competition on the HS 138 large hill with 129.5 m, but with 131.5 m he showed the best performance in the final round and moved up to third overall. "I’m satisfied with the final result. The first round was really difficult due to the changing conditions. I’ve managed to focus in the second round, I knew that I could jump well. Tomorrow I must show two good jumps and enjoy my time on the home hill", said Jelar.
Veteran Jurij Tepes narrowly missed the podium in fourth, but he could still achieve his best result of the season so far. The top result of the Slovenes in this home competition was completed by Lovro Kos in seventh and Bor Pavlovcic in tenth.
Poland's Maciej Kot, who, similar to Jurij Tepes, is struggling this winter and could not live up to his own expectations so far, was fifth and might have been able to regain some self-confidence after the bad results in the World Cup recently.
Anders Haare of Norway posted the longest jump of the day with 138 m in the first round and came in sixth. The two best Germans today were Luca Roth and Adrian Sell in eighth and ninth.
With Federico Cecon in tenth, also a jumper of Italy could finish in the Top 10 this afternoon.
Austrian Clemens Leitner (625 points) still leads the overall ranking of the COC, followed by Taku Takeuchi (506 points) and Stefan Huber (482 points).
The second competition in Planica starts on Sunday at 11:45 pm CET.
