Slovenian ski jumping team finishes second in Planica
Planica, 1 April - Slovenian ski jumpers Lovro Kos, Domen Prevc, Timi Zajc and Anže Lanišek finished second at the team event of the Ski Jumping World Cup Finals in Planica on Saturday. The Austrian team won gold and Norwegians were third.
Planica
Slovenian ski jumper Anže Lanišek celebrates as he seals Slovenia's victory in the team event at the Nordic Ski World Championships.
Photo: Anže Malovrh/STA
Powered by the energy of some 20,000 fans, the Slovenian ski jumpers finished the first round in the first place, followed by the Norwegian and Austrian teams.
But the start of the second round brought a change at the top as Austrian Daniel Tschofenig made an excellent jump to beat Slovenia's Kos and Norway's Johann Andre Forfang.
Prevc jumped 239.5 metres and again took the lead, which Slovenia retained after Zajc's jump. Stefan Kraft delivered an excellent performance at 235.5 metres, but Lanišek's advantage seemed enough for a victory. But after an excellent jump he did not land perfectly, which brought victory to team Austria.
Kos, Prevc, Zajc and Lanišek scored 1,682 points and were just 6.1 points behind Austria, while Norway were 27.4 points behind Slovenia.
This is the second podium result for the Slovenian men's team this season after the second place they bagged in Lahti, Finland.
"It was a really good fight with Austria up to the last jump. We were in the game for victory but the second place is still a superb achievement," the team's coach Robert Hrgota told the public broadcaster RTV Slovenija.
"Unfortunately, I didn't pull out what I could have after jumping off. When I was there, I thought it would go far. I thought the jump-off was pretty good and I felt strong in the squat. But I was a bit short and unfortunately I was the one who left the victory here. It's still a great result, we jumped well no matter what. Of course there is a bit of a bitter aftertaste and I can only apologise to the guys," Lanišek told RTV Slovenija.
Lanišek was second in today's individual event, which was moved to this morning because yesterday the wind was too strong.