Timi Zajc takes the win in Courchevel
Aug 10, 2019·Ski Jumping
Slovenia's Timi Zajc won the FIS Grand Prix 2019 in Courchevel on Saturday evening. In difficult conditions, Zajc posted jumps of 131.5 m and 133.5 m (277.6 points) and came in ahead of Norway's Robert Johansson (273.1 points) and Japan's Naoki Nakamura (269.5 points).
The constantly changing winds during the third leg of the FIS Grand Prix 2019 in Courchevel (FRA) were challenging for jury and athletes alike. The jury had to move the inrun gate various times in order to react to the changing conditions. Despite these difficulties, Slovenia's Timi Zajc was the well-deserved winner today.
This was already the second win in the Grand Prix for the 19-year-old, who was also the best in the Grand Prix opener in Wisla (POL). Zajc now leads the Grand Prix overall ranking with 200 points ahead of Karl Geiger (172 points) and Russia's Evgeniy Klimov (105 points). "I'm very happy about this win. My second jump was very good. It's nice that I lead in the overall ranking of the Grand Prix and now I'm looking forward to the weekend in Zakopane", Zajc said after the competition.
Second-placed Norwegian Robert Johansson had already proven during the training and the qualification in Courchevel, that he can jump extremely well on the 1992 Olympic hill. Johansson was even in the lead after the first round and was satisfied with his strong second place today. "I was positively surprised by the conditions. I expected it to be even more difficult than it was. I'm very satisfied with today's result because it shows that my training is paying off and that I'm on the right track towards the winter", said Johansson, for whom the second place today was the first individual podium in a Grand Prix event. So far the seventh place in Courchevel 2017 was his best result in the GP.
For Japan's Naoki Nakamura, today's competition also ended with a career-best. "This is my first podium in the Grand Prix. This is amazing. I'm still extremely excited and I think I have a pulse of about 200 now. I'm so totally happy", said Nakamura, who was on the podium in the COC in Schuchinsk (KAZ) this summer.
Tilen Bartol (SLO), Evgeniy Klimov and the two Poles Jakub Wolny and Maciej Kot came in on the places four to seven. Best German was Karl Geiger in eighth, who was followed by the two Norwegians Marius Lindvik and Daniel Andre Tande.
Austria's Philipp Aschenwald showed a top performance and proved his currently great shape with jumps of 135.5 m and 135 m. But the 23-year-old did not stand his first jump and so he lost his chances to achieve a top result today. The Tyrolean finished 22nd.
Canada's Mackenzie Boyd-Clowes and Sergey Tkachenko of Kazakhstan were disqualified.
The men's Grand Prix continues next weekend with two competitions in Zakopane (POL). At the same time, the final of the women's Grand Prix 2019 will be held in Frenstat (CZE).
