There were further falls at the Ski Flying World Cup in Planica, Slovenia. The Italian Giovanni Bresadola flew 226 meters in the team competition on Saturday, but then fell after the jump. His left knee lost stability immediately after jumping up and the 23-year-old hit his head at high speed.
Bresadola initially remained lying down and was treated by paramedics in the exit of the huge facility. After a break of around ten minutes, the team flying continued. “The knee doesn’t look good. The way he stayed lying down – I wish him all the best and hope it’s not too bad,” said German ski jumper Karl Geiger on ZDF in his first reaction.
Zajc also falls badly
A little later, the Slovenian Timi Zajc, who was unable to catch a flight of 242.5 meters, also fell. Zajc was supported by helpers, but was able to leave the run on his own two feet. It wasn’t the first crashes at the end of the season.
The Kazakh Sergei Tkachenko, the American Casey Larson and Eetu Nousiainen from Finland had already been hit on Thursday. Nousiainen suffered a torn anterior cruciate ligament and meniscus in a fall during qualifying.
The German athlete Luisa Görlich, who fell on the normal hill, was operated on in Munich after tearing her cruciate ligament, as the German Ski Association announced on Friday. “The operation went very well and hopefully the athlete can start rehab soon. We hope that Luisa returns to the ski jumps as soon as possible,” said sports director Horst Hüttel.
German team disappointed
Meanwhile, the German ski jumpers clearly missed the podium in the last team competition of the season. Andreas Wellinger, Karl Geiger, Stephan Leyhe and Pius Paschke had to settle for sixth place among the nine teams. Victory went to Austria (803.8 points) after just one round, ahead of hosts Slovenia (793.3) and Norway (770.6).
At the World Cup in Kulm at the end of January, Germany won bronze with the same line-up, but now they were a good 36 meters short of the podium with 726.6 points. “That was not that good. We can’t get the speed going here,” said national coach Stefan Horngacher on ZDF. Only Paschke impressed with a flight to 221.0 meters.
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Because there was strong wind after the first round, the jury decided to stop the competition. Victory went to the Austrian quartet of world champion Stefan Kraft, Daniel Huber, Michael Hayböck and Daniel Tschofenig. Huber also demonstrated the longest flight of the day at 244.0 meters.
The season ends on Sunday (9.30 a.m. on ZDF and Eurosport) with a final individual competition. Only the 30 best in the overall World Cup are allowed to start, from Germany these are Wellinger, Paschke, Geiger and Leyhe.
