Second win for Vladimir Zografski

The Bulgarian Vladimir Zografski continues to cause a sensation. After his premiere victory last weekend in Courchevel (FRA), the 30-year-old also won the competition in Szczyrk (POL) today. 
Zografski, who leads the Grand Prix overall ranking after three competitions, prevailed ahead of the two Poles Aleksander Zniszczol and Piotr Zyla.

In his second victory in a row, Zografski managed a spectacular comeback. After 9th place in the first round, the Bulgarian catapulted himself right to the front with a top jump and was even able to enjoy a lead of 3.8 points over the second-placed Pole Aleksander Zniszczol in the end.
"I am surprised myself that it went so well here today. We trained more for the large hill and I really didn't expect it to work so well. At the moment things are going really well for me," said a delighted Zografski, who also improved the Grand Prix hill record in Szczyrk to 106.5 metres with his fantastic jump. 
Zografski lives and trains in Zakopane, a two-hour drive from Szczyrk, and is married to a Polish woman. So for Zografski the competition in Szczyrk was half a home game.

For 29-year-old Aleksander Zniszczol second place meant the best result of his career, Aleksander Zniszczol has been on an upward trend since last winter. Today the highlight so far for the man from WSS Wisla. Piotr Zyla was happy about third place.
Fourth place in the daily ranking went to Maciej Kot, the third Pole among the top 4, for the two-time World Cup winner (2017, Pyeongchang and Sapporo) a huge step after a long dry spell.

Robert Johansson confirmed his strong shape after his good performances in Courchevel. The Norwegian was in the lead after the first run, but then had to let four athletes pass in the final, nevertheless a convincing performance by Johansson. Team mate Fredrik Villumstadt surprised in 7th place.

Gregor Deschwanden loses yellow bib
The Swiss Gregor Deschwanden did not cope so well with the normal hill in Szczyrk. Deschwanden, who had travelled to Poland as the leader (together with Zografski) of the Grand Prix, had to be satisfied with 14th place today and thus lost his yellow bib.
However, Deschwanden is still in second place in the overall Grand Prix ranking with 198 points. The day's winner Vladimir Zografski is in the lead with 280 points. Aleksander Zniszczol (136 points) is in third place, followed by Japan's Ren Nikaido (135 points) who finished in a good sixth place today.

Best Austrian was Thomas Lackner, Stephan Leyhe came in 10th as best German.
Successful day also for the Romanian Daniel Andrei Cacina who was able to collect points again with rank 28 after rank 27 in Courchevel.

The men will compete in their second competition in Szczyrk on Sunday, start is at 13:00.