Slovenia win gold at Ski Flying World Championships
Vikersund, 13 March - Slovenian ski jumpers Domen Prevc, Peter Prevc, Timi Zajc and Anže Lanišek scored a convincing win in the team event at the Ski Flying World Championships in Vikersund, Norway, on Sunday. Slovenia beat their closest pursuers, Germany, by 128 points to bag their ninth World Championships medal, including their third gold.
Vikersund, Norway
Slovenia's ski jumpers Peter Prevc, Domen Prevc, Timi Zajc and Anže Lanišek (left to right) win the gold medal in the team event at the Ski Flying World Championships.
Photo: Slovenian Ski Association's Twitter
While all the other teams had a weak link among their four competitors, the Slovenian jumpers performed very consistently and justified their role as favourites after their earlier performances in the individual event. On Saturday, Zajc finished second, Peter Prevc fourth, Lanišek fifth and Domen Prevc sixth.
Today, Slovenia boasted the best results in six of the eight jumps and led convincingly after the first round. Brothers Prevc, Zajc and Lanišek built up a 63.4 point lead over the Germans and 77.2 over the Austrians.
After the second round, the lead increased to 128 points. Zajc was deemed the best individual in the event, and Lanišek jumped the longest, at 234 metres. Germany won silver and bronze went to Norway after Austria dropped to fourth place.
"We were performing really well already in the individual competition, and today we flew far again," said Peter Prevc in his first statement to the International Ski Federation.
"We've clearly caught the right weekend. Sometimes we catch a good one, sometimes we don't, but this time everything fell into place. I think the fact that we have a lot of competition within the team contributed a lot to that," added the eldest of the Prevc brothers, who won his first gold medal in a ski flying team event.
"It feels very good. (...) It was difficult today, but nobody made a mistake so we did well," said Zajc, and Lanišek added: "We did it, we have a really strong team. We all flew superbly and kudos to the whole coaching team and the boys. I'm very happy."
"You have to be confident, do your job and be patient, because a lot can happen until the very end," noted Domen Prevc, the youngest of the Prevc brothers.
This is Slovenia's ninth overall medal and third team event medal at the Ski Flying World Championships, which have been held since 1972. It is also the country's third gold medal at such competitions.