Ski Flying World Cup: Piotr Zyla all fired up at the Kulm
Feb 15, 2020·Ski Jumping
Poland's Piotr Zyla took a spectacular win in this season's first Ski Flying event in Bad Mitterndorf (AUT). With jumps of 225.5 m and 219.5 m, Zyla came in just ahead of Slovenia's Timi Zajc and Austrian Stefan Kraft. Karl Geiger missed the podium by only 0.1 points.
Piotr Zyla is among the athletes with the most emotional celebrations in Ski Jumping and he proved that again today when he claimed his second World Cup win, the first in a Ski Flying competition. Zyla had to wait for almost seven years for this win after the 33-year-old stood on top of the podium for the first time on the Holmenkollen in Oslo 2013, back then he tied for the win with Gregor Schlierenzauer.
"I'm very happy about this win. It's been a while since my first win in Oslo. I didn't expect to win here today and I'm so happy now that I was able to finish on top. It's a great feeling. I really like Ski Flying and today I felt really good physically and mentally. I felt so strong and that was enough to win. Tomorrow I want to have fun and enjoy flying here", explained the winner.
Timi Zajc continues Slovenian Ski Flying tradition
Timi Zajc of Slovenia confirmed his great Ski Flying skills in second today. "I'm really happy, it was an amazing competition and I hope it'll be the same tomorrow", said Zyla, who came in only 0.3 points behind the winner and he added that "I don't know why I'm so good in Ski Flying, I'm young so I'm not so scared and I just want to fly. I hope tomorrow I can jump even better than today, I can't wait for the next competition."
Stefan Kraft enthuses the crowd
Stefan Kraft enthused the home crowd with his third place: "It was a fantastic day, it was a perfect day for Ski Flying in great conditions. My jumps today got better and better. I had two good flight and I'm extremely happy with the podium. Tomorrow I want to jump over the hill size, maybe I'll get some headwind."
With Dawid Kubacki and Kamil Stoch in fifth and seventh, three Polish athletes finished in the Top 10 today. A positive sign for the strong Polish team with two Ski Flying team events remaining this winter, one in Vikersund during the RAW AIR and one at the Ski Flying World Championships in Planica.
No luck for Karl Geiger
Karl Geiger was in the lead after the first round, but in the end he missed the podium by the tiny margin of only 0.1 points in fourth. A close competition in which Geiger was simply lacking the necessary luck. Constantin Schmid finished strong 13th, Willingen-winner Stephan Leyhe came in 15th, Pius Paschke 18th, Markus Eisenbichler 28th.
The surprise of the day was the performances of Finland's Antti Aalto, who finished on a strong sixth place, followed by the best Norwegian today, Robert Johansson. Estonia's Antti Aigro was 26th and showed that he is among the best also in Ski Flying.
Stefan Kraft remains in the lead of the overall World Cup with 1173 points, followed by Karl Geiger (1095 points) and Dawid Kubacki (985 points).
The second competition in Bad Mitterndorf starts on Sunday at 11 am CET.
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