Kulm ski flying – the oldest, the first and a tragic crash
The ski flying weekend on the Kulm hill in Tauplitz-Bad Mitterndorf in Austria was full of many pleasant and less pleasant events. Noriaki Kasai went down in history as the oldest winner of a World Cup event, while Peter Prevc finally noted his first ever World Cup win. Despite that both competitions took place under the shadow of Thomas Morgenstern’s tragic fall during a training round.
Disturbing news came from Austria on a Friday afternoon, when despite his win in the first training, the 27-year-old Morgi crashed at 100m and lost his consciousness. It was his second such a serious fall this season and a third one in his ski jumping career. He has not even fully recovered from his last fall in Titisee-Neustadt on 15th December, being forced to land again in a hospital with a serious head injury and damaged lung. He is now following a 14-days of regeneration and rehabilitation process being very lucky that those serious injuries did not cause any more health problems. Even his start at the Olympics is still possible.
Watch the crash with a commentary from ORF tv (German):
While positive news are known now, the accident cast a shadow over the whole weekend. Having in mind athletes safety, the jury decided to keep a gate quite low, so that the longest jump of 201m delivered by Noriaki Kasai was 14.5m short of Schlierenzauer’s hill record.
During the first rehearsal before the Ski Flying Championships in Harrachov in March this year three athletes delivered the longest jumps presenting themselves as favourites to the trophies. Noriaki Kasai, Peter Prevc and Gregor Schlierenzauer took podium steps on both days only exchanging the places.
After shining in 4 Hills Tournament the 41-year-old Kasai proved his good form by winning the Saturday event. Despite his age, his perseverance led him to a legendary win after 10 years of waiting. He became the oldest ski jumper to win the World Cup. All of the Austrian flags waved celebrating his first place and fellow jumpers queued up to congratulate bowing politely in front of the Japanese man. The second day brought a third place but it looks like he has not said the last word yet as his joy for jumping surpasses this of his younger colleagues.
4th in 4 Hills Tournament Peter Prevc delivered two great performances during the last weekend with his second place on Saturday and a win on Sunday. Despite a successful last winter season this young Slovenian always had to settle for silver or bronze medals, so the first win in his career came as the most amazing New Year’s gift. Both Robert Kranjec and Jurij Tepes carried their teammate on their shoulders presenting who is the King of Kulm. His last year’s two podiums at ski flying in Planica and this weekend’s success bring him as one of the favourites for the upcoming Championships.
Gregor Schlierenzauer, who not according to some expectations finished 4 Hills Tournament on the 8th place, proved his ski flying abilities by grabbing bronze on a Saturday and silver on a Sunday event. During the absence of his teammates – Thomas Diethart and Thomas Morgenstern, Schlieri delivered good results. Having in mind he is the leader of the Ski Flying World Cup from last season, he stands good chances of taking medals in Harrachov.
Worth mentioning are performances of Jurij Tepes and Mackenzie Boyd-Clowes. The first one delivered four stable jumps taking 7th place on both days. The Slovenian took a gold in Planica and a bronze in Harrachov in ski flying last year so his chances for a good result in Harrachov Championships stay high. The Canadian on the other hand landed on 36th place on Sunday but his 9th place on a previous day was his personal best.
The amazing Simon Ammann, who finished 4 Hills Tournament on a 3rd place, did not shine as much this time, but his performance can still be described as positive. The Swiss finished 11th on Saturday and 4th on Sunday with his long jumps on 195m and 190m. Czech Jan Matura delivered a steady result as well by taking both 6th places and winning qualification to the second competition. His last year’s results from Harrachov, a bronze and a silver, put him in a perfect position for fighting over the medals during the championships in his home country.
There are a couple of jumpers who unfortunately disappointed their fans. Slovenian Robert Kranjec, who grabbed gold in Vikersund 2012 Ski Flying Championships and took the second place in last season’s ski flying World Cup, finished this weekend’s events on 5th and 18th places. Even winning the first qualification round did not help him to achieve good results. At the same time Andreas Stjernen from Norway, who was just behind Kranjec in the overall Ski Flying World Cup classification, finished 37th on Saturday and did not even qualify the second competition.
Norwegian Rune Velta, silver medal holder from Vikersund Ski Flying Championships, presented a very poor form finishing 26th on a first and 13th on a second day. Martin Koch from Austria, who is considered being one of the ski flying experts and who finished third in Vikersund 2012, took 18th and 28th place. Kamil Stoch, despite his 6th and 9th places, remained a World Cup leader 11 points ahead of Schlierenzauer and 19 points ahead of Ammann.
A surprising winner of the last 4 Hills Tournament, Thomas Diethart, did not start at his first ski flying event. However, he could have been noticed among the coaches with Austrian Alexander Pointner explaining him very animatedly how he should behave on a ski flying hill 🙂
Full list of results – Saturday
