Moreover, Peter and Domen Prevc, Jernej Damjan, and Jurij Tepeš have all been able to improve throughout the day, which bodes well for Friday’s event.

Goran Janus, Slovenia’s head coach, said before Thursdays qualifying round that he would be happy if at least 7 or 8 Slovenian ski jumpers could qualify for Friday’s event. However, only Semenič, Bartol and Damjan managed to qualify. Another three Slovenian ski jumpers were directly qualified.

Former world record holder Robert Johansson of Norway won Thursday’s qualifier (233.0 m) after his countryman Johann Andre Forfang (241.5 m) was disqualified. Semenič (227.5 m) finished eighth, while Andreas Wellinger recorded the longest jump of the day at 240.5 meters.

Semenič sets a new personal record
Semenič’s longest jump of the day was 238.0 m – a personal record. Damjan, the most experienced ski jumper from Slovenia, came in 11th (221.0 m). Damjan said that he was ill with a fever and needed to rest. Meanwhile, Bartol finished 22nd (211.5 m).

Qualifying round puts Tepeš’s mind at ease
Norwegian Daniel Andre Tande and Slovenians Domen Prevc, Peter Prevc and Tepeš were the only top 10 ski jumpers who participated in today’s qualifying round. The best among them was Tepeš (192.0 m, 223.5 m, and 238.0 m) – a result that put his mind at ease: “I’m only satisfied with my last jump, even though I made a few mistakes. I’m not satisfied with my first two jumps, I’m actually angry at myself. I made mistakes that I thought I had already ironed out in Vikersund. I hope that on Friday all my jumps will be like my last jump. I took off way too early in my first two attempts. You can’t fix that once you’re in the air. In Planica, you can’t rely on your flight – you need to have a good take-off.”

17-year-old Domen Prevc, who has never before competed in Planica, said that he wasn’t satisfied with his performance. “Today’s jumps weren’t as good as I hoped they would be. I can do a lot better. I didn’t feel very well today, and this affected my performance,” said the youngest of the Prevc brothers. Still, Domen was able to improve throughout the day, jumping 196.5 m and 207.5 m at today’s training session and 222.5 in the qualifying round. Domen said he still prefers Vikersund to Planica – probably because he hasn’t nailed the perfect jump yet.

Domen’s brother and reigning champion Peter Prevc was also able to improve throughout the day, jumping 210.0 m and 225.5 m at today’s training session and 231.0 in the qualifying round. Slovenia’s best jumper of all time said he knows there’s still a lot of room for improvement: “I held back on my first attempt. The second jump was better, especially the take-off. The third jump was pretty decent as well, but I had a few problems before landing. I’m not satisfied with my flight. I had some problems at the 190 m mark, so my jump was shorter than it could have been.”
Tilen Jamnik; translated by D. V.