PARK CITY, Utah (Dec. 19, 2018) – USA Nordic’s Casey Larson (Barrington, Ill.) opened the FIS Cup presented by USANA ski jumping festival in Park City Wednesday night finishing third. Swiss Luca Egloff took the win for the men while Natalie Eilers led a Canadian sweep for the women. American Annika Belshaw (Steamboat Springs, Colo.) was fourth.
It was a tricky night for wind, forcing the competition jury to make a number of adjustments. It was the first of a two-night FIS Cup ski jumping festival with the finale set for 6:00 p.m. MST Thursday.
Larson had soared into the lead after the first round flying 96.0 meters on the HS100 meter Olympic jump. Both Egloff and Japan’s Hiroaki Watanabe put the pressure on with second jumps of 95.0 meters each heading into Larson’s final jump. The Chicago-area native just missed his takeoff, falling a few meters short at 90.5 meters to take third. It was a career best finish for Larson, a member of the 2018 Olympic Team.
“It was a step in the right direction, for sure, but I was just a little late on the second jump,” said Larson. “It was a small field but the top guys are really competitive. I knew those were the guys to beat. I’ll look to move up tomorrow night – it’s fun to be jumping in Park City.”
Egloff took the win with 244.5 points, two ahead of Watanabe. Larson scored 237.4 on his two jumps.
Eilers, from the Altius Nordic Ski Club in Calgary, dominated the evening for Canada with jumps of 90.0 and 83.0 meters to score her first FIS Cup victory. Abigail Strate was second with Natasha Bodnarchuk third.
Belshaw had jumps of 68.0 and 83.0 meters for a career best fourth. Logan Sankey (Steamboat Springs, Colo.) was fifth to match her career best FIS Cup.
The FIS Cup is a steppingstone international series with the top up-and-coming ski jumpers competing. A total of 10 nations were on the starting list for the two-day event.
Action continues Thursday evening at 6:00 p.m. with tickets available at the gate. USA Nordic TV will live stream the competition at www.usanordic.org/usanordictv.
FIS CUP SKI JUMPING
Wednesday, December 19, 2018
Utah Olympic Park, Park City, Utah
HS100m
Men’s HS100m
https://www.fis-ski.com/DB/general/results.html?sectorcode=JP&raceid=5402
Women’s HS100m
https://www.fis-ski.com/DB/general/results.html?sectorcode=JP&raceid=5401
