The first Ski Jumping World Cup event takes place at the end of this week in Wisla, Poland, where ski jumpers will be competing in the team event (Saturday at 4pm) and the men’s individual event (Sunday at 3pm).
The head coach of Slovenia’s distance hunters, Goran Janus, will be taking Robert Kranjec, Anže Lanišek, Anže Semenič, Jurij Tepeš, Tilen Bartol, Timi Zajc and Peter Prevc with him to Poland. There will be some novelties in this World Cup winter season, which will have a long packed schedule. This year’s season also brings the biggest sporting event, the Olympic Games. Ski jumpers will also compete in Oberstdorf, at the 4-Hills-Tournament, and always special for Slovenians are the final events in Planica.
Peter Prevc has already shined at all of the above-mentioned highlights of the season. He won the 4-Hills-Tournament two years ago, he has also been victorious in Planica. In Oberstdorf he will be defending his Ski Flying World Champion title, which he won two years ago in Kulm, and in Pyeongchang he will be defending his Olympic silver won in Sochi.
"It will be a bit calm around Christmas, but right after that we will have the highlight events of the 4-Hills-Tournament, the World Championship, the Olympic Games and the final World Cup events in Planica. I wish to be calmer than last year at these events. There was a feeling of dissatisfaction with myself during the entire last season. I wish to be calmer when jumping, grow with every competition event and leave them feeling pleased," said the 25-year-old Prevc, who will not have his brothers by his side as they failed to make it into the team.
Peter Prevc at the moment very pleased with his equipment
After his champion season, in which he faced no real competition and won practically everything that could be won, Prevc faced real problems during last year’s season.
The summer part of this year’s season also did not go according to plans, but now Prevc is more optimistic about the new season: "I’m calmer now. I’m just waiting to go. I’m prepared, confident, and I’m also calm as my equipment is now flawless. We did not have the right material at the end of the summer. The boots were worn out and we didn’t know why. But now we’ve settled the matter and the equipment is ready. I’m pleased with it. It’s good that I have already chosen what I’m going to have with me on the first day of competition."
"You go into the new season with a question: Where, in fact, am I? We’ve practiced what we practiced. We have to trust and hope that things will go that way on the day of competition. With regards to our training, some things could always be better, but when the season starts you must not burden yourself. You have to stay calm, and my wish is to be relaxed when jumping in the first event. You can’t set any result goals after a summer full of mixed results behind you. I would be unhappy, to want to force myself into making good jumps. That’s what caused great difficulties during the summer, making the summer even harder for me. I would be least happy to go on and complicate a competition event for myself," added Prevc. He also added that he was very saddened by the news of Kenneth Gangnes’s serious knee injury. Gangnes had to miss last season because of the same injury. In the season when Prevc was invincible Gangnes finished third in the World Cup standings.
