Piotr Zyla wins in Szczyrk
Aug 06, 2023·Ski Jumping
Local hero Piotr Zyla won the second FIS Men's Grand Prix in Szczyrk, Poland, on Sunday. The 36-year-old crowd favorite won the competition after only one run ahead of Grand Prix leader Vladimir Zografski from Bulgaria and the surprisingly strong Luca Roth from Germany.
Continuous rain made the qualification and the first run of Szczyrk a real water battle. In the last meters of the outrun of the HS 104 meter hill the water was standing. Nevertheless, the athletes delivered a high-class first round to the numerous spectators on site.
Piotr Zyla had already won the qualification and then also took the lead in the first round with the best distance of 105 meters ahead of Grand Prix Dominator Vladimir Zografski from Bulgaria. Surprise man was Luca Roth from Germany, Roth managed a perfect jump on 104.5 meters, that meant the third place for the man from SV Messstetten. Roth had already convinced with 13th place on Saturday.
In the second run, the rain decreased towards the end of the run, but the wind increased more and more. With the last athletes, the jury first made several breaks before the decision was made to finally stop. The wind was too changeable, the risk for the athletes too big.
So the top-3 cheered after the first run which was counted as the final result.
"Today I did a good job. I had planned to jump well and have fun this weekend, and I did both really well. I didn't care about the conditions today, I was completely focused on my jump", explained day winner Zyla who celebrated a World Cup victory (Kulm) last in 2020.
Vladimir Zografski celebrated his second place like a victory: "I can say that this was a successful weekend for me. We didn't expect the victory yesterday or the second place today. The weather was quite a challenge today but I think the first run was fair. In the second round it was really hard, the jury did a very good job today" said Vladimir Zografski.
Best career result for Luca Roth
Luca Roth said: "I am happy with the result. I managed good jumps today and it is just always a great atmosphere at the hills in Poland". For the 23-year-old it was the best result of his career so far.
The Norwegian Fredrik Villumstadt and Aleksander Zniszczol (POL) finished fourth and fifth.
In the Grand Prix overall standings the Bulgarian Vladimir Zografski (360 points) is still in the lead ahead of the Swiss Gregor Deschwanden (234 points) who coped much better with the hill in Szczyrk today than on Saturday. Place 7 on Sunday for Deschwanden.
For the men the Grand Prix continues on 23. and 24.9 in Rasnov (BUL) with two competitions.
