Kamil Stoch rocks Zakopane
Jan 26, 2020·Ski Jumping
Kamil Stoch won the second World Cup event in Zakopane on Sunday evening. The three-time Olympic champion claimed the win on his home hill with jumps of 137.5 m and 140 m (295.7 points), ahead of Austria's Stefan Kraft (136 m and 138 m; 290.6 points) and Dawid Kubacki (140 m and 133 m; 287.8 points).
The crowd of 25000 fans in the once again sold-out arena at the Wielka Krokiew hill in Zakopane went crazy when the final result showed up on the big screen: 1. Kamil Stoch, 2. Stefan Kraft, 3. Dawid Kubacki.
After the fifth place of the Polish team on Saturday, this was exactly what the fans had hoped for in the second competition this weekend: A win for Poland.
And it was Kamil Stoch who came out on top and not Dawid Kubacki was a surprise for everyone, even the winner himself: "Honestly, I don't know what to say, I really didn't expect this. The atmosphere here gave me wings today, it was the most emotional competition ever for me", explained the overwhelmed Kamil Stoch, who obviously enjoyed celebrating his success together with the fans in the arena.
Stefan Kraft seemed to have recovered from his back problems and came in second. "I think this was one of the best days of my life. Being on the podium in Zakopane with two Polish guys is amazing, the atmosphere was crazy", said Kraft.
The third place went half-time leader Dawid Kubacki, who thanked his coach Michal Dolezal. "That I'm jumping so well right now is not only Michal's success, but he helped me a lot to constantly improve my jumping", Kubacki said about Dolezal, for whom this is the first season as head coach of the Polish team.
Stephan Leyhe continues to jump extremely strong, but he still has to wait for his first win. But today, the Willingen-native was very close to the podium. He was second after the first round in the cauldron of Zakopane, but this was not enough. With 134 m in the final he finished fourth, only 1.3 points behind Kubacki. "It's only a matter of time until Stephan is on the podium, it was extremely close for him today", explained Leyhe's teammate Karl Geiger, who defended the yellow bib with his fifth place.
Geiger now leads the World Cup with 931 points ahead of Stefan Kraft (883 points) and Ryoyu Kobayashi (831 points), who finished seventh today.
The World Cup of the ski jumpers continues next weekend with two competitions in Sapporo (JPN).
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