July 16, 2008 – The FIS Continental Cup Ski Jumping started in Velenje (SLO) with the home team’s double win on Friday, 4th July. The first winner of the summer 2008 was Primoz Pikl, who beat teammate Robert Hrgota by three points. In the second competition in Velenje on Saturday, 17-year-old Pascal Bodmer of Germany won with a comfortable margin of 7 points. With one victory and four podium appearances, the two Velenje competitions represented a perfect start for the new Slovenian head coach Matjaz Zupan. Saturday’s competition was even broadcast live on Slovenian Television.

”After some initial starting difficulties, we again had two good competitions in Velenje,” noted FIS Continental Cup Coordinator Horst Tielmann.”Bodmer’s victory shows that the Germans are on the right way and that his team gold from the 2008 FIS Junior World Championships in Zakopane (POL) was no coincidence”.

In the third competition on Sunday, held in Kranj (SLO), another 17-year-old, Maciej Kot from Poland, took the honors. He finished just 0.9 points ahead of teammate Stefan Hula. After three competitions, Pikl (SLO) leads the COC rankings with 220 points.