Pungertar triumphs at PyeongChang

By Yoon Chul

PyeongChang — Slovene ski jumper Matjaz Pungertar won the first round of the 12th FIS Ski JumpingContinental Cup held at the Alpensia Resort in Gangwon Province, Wednesday.

Among 39 challengers Matjaz flew 249.5 meters in two attempts outperforming Julian Musiol of Germany and Rok Zima of Slovenia who shared second with 226.8 meters.

“I am very happy to win. This is the best record in my career,” the 20-year-old winner said at a press conference.

Among five Korean athletes Choi Heung-chul marked the best record by jumping 196.4 meters (14th), followed by Kim Hyun-ki who finished 25th.

“I am disappointed with my result,” Choi said.

Kim won last September at the same venue in the FIS Continental Cup but failed to clinch the top position again in the first day of competition.

“I failed to get the right timing in the first and second jumps,” Kim told The Korea Times.

“I am going to prepare well to show a much better performance,” he added.

To generate the perfect condition the Korea Ski Association (KSA) and Gangwon Province have closely cooperated with Horst Tielmann of Austria in charge of coordinating the ski jumping event.

The postponed practice jump session began 11:30 a.m. and the Korean jumpers seemed to be in a good shape.

“Our three jumpers, Kim Hun-ki, Choi Heung-chul, and Choi Yong-jik, are in a good condition enough to clinch the top place,” head coach Kim Heung-soo told the Korea Times.

“If our jumpers get a good tail wind, they can win,” added Kim.

As the Korean head coach mentioned, Kim Hun-ki flew over 128 meters, largely meeting earlier expectations.

Kim flew 122.5 meters in the first attempt but he failed to grasp the title by flying shorter in the second jump.

Meanwhile FIS coordinator Tielmann praised the running of the competition, though the practice session was delayed.

“This is wonderful facility,” Tielmann told The Korea Times. “First of all I have to say they did a very, very good job.”

However, he cited the need to upgrade the facility saying, “They put too much snow in at first and we had to take some off but not that much,” Tielmann said.

“There can be some problems in preparation, especially when they have very little snow. It is not so easy to work on. But it is not the fault of the organization, just something that can happen,” Tielmann said.

Though PyeongChang has yet to make more preparation in terms of transportation ahead of the envisioned Winter Games in 2018, Tielmann already admired Korea’s well developed infrastructure.

“It (transportation) is really good, I mean good highways and good roads,” Tielmann said.

Many of the ski jumpers also praised the newly developed venue.

“Everything is very new and convenient compared to other venues in Europe. This is the best,” Matjaz said.

The 39 jumpers will compete at the same venue for the large-hill title on Thursday.