Local News

Soaring off Pine Mountain again

Continental Cup competition to start early today

IRON MOUNTAIN -- Thirty-six jumpers from seven nations are slated to compete today and Sunday at the Marshfield Clinic-Dickinson Continental Cup tournament at Pine Mountain.

Action begins at 9 a.m. today, an hour earlier than previously announced, the Kiwanis Ski Club said on its Facebook page. The forecast calls for a chance of snow this afternoon, but with little to no accumulation. Light and variable winds could become gustier later in the day.

The previous schedule called for competitions today at 11 a.m. and 1:30 p.m., but those times could be adjusted depending on the weather.

Sunday's schedule calls for a trial round at 11 a.m. and a competition at 1 p.m.

Three rounds of training took place Friday. Ziga Jelar of Slovenia had the day's longest ride at 448 feet, which is just 24 feet shy of the hill record set by Austria's Clemens Aigner in 2020. Justin Lisso of Germany had the second-longest jump at 441 feet,

This year marks the debut of the ski club's $3 million renovation to raise the Pine Mountain facility to current International Ski Federation, or FIS, standards. Last year's tournament was canceled due to pandemic restrictions.

The field for this weekend's tournament includes most of the top skiers on the Continental Cup circuit. Austria's Thomas Lackner, who ranks second in winter season points, is joined by Slovenia's Anze Semenic, ranked third.

Semenic had one of the longest rides in Friday's training session, at 423 feet, while Lackner soared 420 feet. Phillip Raimund of Germany, who stands fifth in Continental Cup points, jumped 422 feet.

Norway's Joacim Oedegaard Bjoereng, fourth in season points; Austria's Stefan Rainer, sixth; and Norway's Anders Haare, seventh, are also podium contenders.

Top-ranked Ulrich Wohlgenannt of Austria will be absent after being out-dueled by Semenic two weekends ago on the Bergisel-hill in Innsbruck, Austria. Semenic, 28, earned two straight victories and had a best jump of 422 feet.

Semenic is a two-time Pine Mountain champion. His first win came in 2013 when he sailed 446 feet. He reached the podium twice at Giant Pine in 2015, claiming a first and second and owning a long jump of 458 feet.

Slovenia's Jan Bombek, 20, is coming off third and fourth place finishes at Innsbruck to move up to 14th in Continental Cup points.

Another returning Pine Mountain champion is Klemens Muranka of Poland, who won in 2014 with a long ride of 425 feet. Muranka placed second with a flight of 461 feet in 2017.

Jakub Wolny of Poland had a second-place showing at Giant Pine in 2018 with a ride of 453 feet.

The U.S. will be represented by Erik Belshaw and Andrew Urlaub. Belshaw, 17, of Steamboat Springs, Colo., qualified for the U.S. Olympic team but declined. He would have been the youngest man on the U.S. team across all sports.

Urlaub, 20, of Eau Claire, Wis., had a third place Continental Cup finish at an event this past August in Rasnov, Romania.