COC: Timi Zajc and Evgeniy Klimov top in season opener
Jul 09, 2019·Ski Jumping
Slovenian Timi Zajc and Russian Evgeniy Klimov were the outstanding athletes of the weekend at the start of the summer Continental Cup in Kranj (SLO). While the two athletes shared first place on Friday, Klimov won on Saturday just ahead of Zajc.
In the first competition in Kranj, Timi Zajc and Evgeniy Klimov shared the first victory of the 2019 summer season. In a thrilling final on the HS 109 meter hill of Kranj (SLO), Zajc (103 and 107 meters) and Klimov (2 x 105 meters) achieved 294.4 points each. The third place went to Pius Paschke of Germany with 290.2 points.
With Zajc and Klimov two athletes could convince in Kranj, who had already proved their skills last winter when they both claimed their first World Cup wins (Klimov in Wisla and Zajc in Oberstdorf).
The fourth place went to Maciej Kot of Poland, who was struggling last winter but seems to be back on the road to success now. Local hero Peter Prevc finished 5th, followed by Keiichi Sato of Japan in sixth.
Moritz Baer of Germany was seventh, followed by 5 Slovenes: Ziga Jelar, Rok Justin, Tilen Bartol, Cene Prevc and Jernej Presecnik on the places 8-12.
Evgeniy Klimov then won on Saturday with jumps of 112 and 116 meters (258.4 points) ahead of Zajc (112.5 and 105.5 meters, 258 points). Pius Paschke repeated his third place from Friday's competition.
The team of Japan had three athletes in the Top-10: Naomi Nakamura (4th), Keiichi Sato (6th) and Shohei Tochimoto (9th). Maciej Kot confirmed his good shape with the 5th place.
The FIS Continental Cup will continue next weekend in Schuchinsk (KAZ) for women and men.
This will be the first official FIS competitions on the spectacular new HS 99 hill.
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