The first stage of the Ski Jumping World Cup after the 2026 Olympics was held in Kulm, Austria. Two Ukrainians took part: Yevhen Marusiak and Vitaliy Kalinichenko.
The World Cup Ski Jumping competition in Kulm began on Friday, February 27. 51 athletes competed in the qualifying jumps.
The best result among the “blue-yellow” was demonstrated by Marusiak, who jumped 198 m and received 174.7 points for his attempt. His result was 27th among all athletes, which allowed the Ukrainian to enter the top 40 and qualify for the first round.
Kalinichenko, with a result of 138 m and a total score of 99.4, came last and failed to qualify for the first main round of the competition.
Marusiak failed to improve his result in the first round of the World Cup. The Ukrainian jumped 191.5 meters and received 161.7 points. He became the first to fail to advance to the decisive round, taking 31st place among 40 athletes.
Marusiak's gap to his closest competitor for reaching the second round, Marius Lindvik from Norway, was 0.9 points.
The winner of the stage was the overall leader and newly-minted Olympic champion in the mixed team, Slovenian Domen Prevc, who beat silver medalist Ren Nikaido with a score of 264.2 points.
The Ski Jumping World Cup competition will continue on Sunday, March 1, with the 22nd men's event of the season of the leading international series.