Timi Zajci was lucky on the way.
Timi Zajci’s brutal slaughter was startling. Picture from the competition in Zakopane. ZumaWire / MVPHOTOS
Slovene Timi Zajc flew to frightening heights in the ski jumping world cup mixed team competition in Willingen.
Zajc’s jump carried no less than 161.5 meters, while the Mühlenkopfschanzen hill record is held by Poland Klemens Murankan 153 meters that he cut in the second year.
The Slovenian fell during his jump and caught his feet on the bottom of the hill, but apparently escaped unharmed. By maintaining his balance, Zajc, 22, would have smashed the hill record by as much as 8.5 meters.
– Is that possible? It’s almost life-threatening, the Norwegian commentator Jörgen Klem horrified on Viaplay’s broadcast.
– Madness. Few people can do that, everyone else’s knees would give out and they would end up in the hospital. When I see jumps like that, I get goosebumps, the German legend Sven Hannawald said.
Before Zajc’s terror alliance Yuki Ito jumped 154.5 meters, but even that was not recorded as a record, because the Japanese’s back and hands hit the ground when coming down.
In Willingen, it rained and was blown by a strong wind during the race. The winner of the mountain week Halvor Granerud was waiting for his turn after Zajc, but didn’t actually sneeze on the boom after that.
– Jumps like that make you afraid of what might happen. Landing flat at 120 km/h is not something I want to do, the Norwegian stated.
The Norwegian team, led by Granerud, managed to win the race in difficult conditions. Austria came second and Germany third.
Sources: VG and Fis