Ski Jumping: Prevc Wins First Gold in World Cup Event
Published on 13 january 2014Slovenia's best ski jumper Peter Prevc flew to his first victory ever in the World Cup event at Kulm hill on Sunday. The victory follows his silver medal from yesterday and is the sixth podium finish for the 21-year-old. "It's a great day. Lately, I've always been close to victory, and today I finally made it," he said.
Following the Slovenian Athlete of the Year 2013, who scored 369 points, were Austrian Gregor Schlierenzauer with 366.9 points in second place and yesterday's winner, Japanese veteran Noriaki Kasai with 365.8 points in third.
"The day turned out perfect. I tried to be as calm as possible... It paid off. We exchanged some places on the podium and I enjoyed hearing Zdravljica [the national anthem] a lot," the winner noted.
Prevc, who won two medals at last year's World Championships in Predazzo, moved up two places to fifth overall place in World Cup standings with today's victory. The victory also brought him the small crystal globe in flights.
"We won! I'm so happy for Peter - for his victory. I hope it will take him further and that he'll continue in the same way. And that other guys'll join him as well," Slovenian team coach Goran Janus told the press, acknowledging he shed a tear when going from the hill.
"I was mostly happy because Peter made a good flight in the finals. Yesterday he made a mistake in the finals, which cost him the victory, but today he was good in the finals as well," the coach added.
Four more Slovenian jumpers have made it to the finals, with Jurij Tepeš finishing seventh (340.9), Jernej Damjan 14th (329.6), Robert Kranjec (319.2) 18th and Jaka Hvala (313.5) 25th.
Source: Slovenia Times
