In his Olympic debut, Slovak ski jumper Hektor Kapustík advanced to the 2nd round of the competition on the middle bridge.
Eighteen-year-old Slovak in Predazza, he landed in the first round at the mark of 102 meters and with a gain of 124.6 points, he was in 22nd place.
In the middle of the competition, German Philipp Raimund (135.6) took the lead, leading by one point ahead of Frenchman Valentin Foubert, Norwegian Kristoffer Eriksen Sundal (132.9) was third. The second round will start at 8:12 p.m.
He was consistently first, beating big names
Kapustik jumped fifteenth in the order in the competition of 50 competitors. At the age of 18, the youngest jumper in the starting field took the lead after his jump and finally managed to keep his place in the elite thirty.
He also left behind, for example, the Austrian Stefan Kraft or the Slovenian Anže Lanišek.
The biggest favorite and absolute leader of the World Cup, Slovenian Domen Prevc, ranked eighth (130.6), the defending gold medalist from Beijing 2022 on the middle bridge, Japanese Rjójó Kobayashi, was seventh (130.8) after the 1st round.
On the other hand, the three-time Olympic champion Kamil Stoch did not advance to the 2nd round, the Pole took only 38th place in the Olympic final.
Before Kapustík, Slovakia last had its representative among men at the 2010 Olympic Games in Vancouver, Canada, in which Tomáš Zmoray participated.
Martin Švagerko, who finished in 25th place on the large bridge in Lillehammer 1994, achieved the historically best placement at the Olympic Games in the era of independence.
Kapustik won participation in the Olympics mainly with results in the WC. In Zakopane, Poland, he took 20th place and scored 11 points, after the 1st round he was even in the sensational eighth place.
On Saturday, in Predazza, he will perform in the competition on the big bridge. His sister Kira Mária Kapustíková also made her Olympic debut, taking 41st place on the middle bridge.
date:2026-02-09 19:07:00