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Kot sweeps ski jumping events at WOP

Maurer top Canadian of the day
web-kot-feb
Polish ski jumper Jakub Kot prepares to take flight during Canadian National Championships action at Whistler Olympic Park on Saturday. Photo by Dan Falloon

Polish ski jumper Jakub Kot was far and away the top competitor in normal-hill action at Whistler Olympic Park (WOP) on Saturday.

The 26-year-old was the only jumper to break the 100-metre mark in FIS Cup action Saturday morning and then rolled to victory again in the Canadian National Championships in the afternoon.

In the opener, Kot posted a winning score of 247 points to easily best American A.J. Brown and Calgary's Josh Maurer.

In the Canadian National Championships, he stepped it up, posting a 257 and surpassing 100 metres on both attempts to knock off a pair of Norwegians, Knut Jokerud Strand and Stian Andre Skinnes. Maurer placed fourth.

Kot enjoyed his first trip to Whistler and felt prepared to fly from the get-go.

"You must be ready to take off, to compete with other good guys," the 19-year-old said. "I did well, but we have another competition tomorrow so I hope to be better and better."

Maurer, meanwhile, had an up-and-down day, as he was generally pleased with his skiing, though he'd like a mulligan on his last flight of the day.

"In FIS Cup this morning, I did pretty good, and then this last competition, the last jump wasn't very good," he said. "I took off too early, so I finished in a weird place."

In the women's division, Eleora Hamming captured the title with a score of 197.5 to best Natasha Bodnarchuk and Abigail Strate. All five competitors represented the Altius Ski Club in Calgary.

As for the J2 (junior) event, Great Britain's Sam Bolton, 13, scored a 171 to edge out Cory Rogans and Max Stretch.

A second FIS Cup event will run Sunday beginning at 10:30 a.m. at Whistler Olympic Park.