Gregor Deschwanden wins in Rasnov

Swiss Gregor Deschwanden won the FIS Grand Prix in Rasnov (ROU) on Saturday. The 32-year-old prevailed in a spectacular competition ahead of Japan's Ren Nikaido and Turkey's Fatih Arda Ipcioglu.

The competition on Saturday in Rasnov was not only spectacular, it also produced a lot of exciting sports stories. Sports history of the first order was written by Turkey's Fatih Arda Ipcioglu with his third place. It was the first time ever that an athlete from Turkey could achieve a podium finish in a top-level event in ski jumping. "This is a piece of history" cheered Fatih Arda Ipcioglu after his success. "I know this hill and I know it can be a bit tricky, but today it fit. I don't even know what to say, I am really overwhelmed" explained the 25-year-old.
Ipcioglu had already been getting in better and better shape during the past winter and had repeatedly provided strong results, so now the first podium finish. Coach Nejc Frank, who played a decisive role in the success of the entire Turkish team, was exuberantly pleased.

Day winner Deschwanden meanwhile sensed his intact chance for the overall victory in the Grand Prix 2023 after the overall leader Bulgarian Vladimir Zografski had to be satisfied with 6th place today. 
Deschwanden (334 points) is now 66 points behind Zografski (400 points). Quite catchable with four individual competitions still to go. "It was really cool to fight with Vladimir today, today I had the better end for me. I don't want to make it too easy for Vladimir and I am looking forward to a fair and hard fight with him, which hopefully will be decided in Klingenthal", said Deschwanden.

Second place also meant a special success for Japan's Ren Nikaido. Nikaido, who has 14th place as his best result in the World Cup, competed in Rasnov a total of 5 times and the Japanese was on the podium in all 5 starts. 
In 2022 Nikaido had sensationally won the Grand Prix of Rasnov, in the Mixed Team he finished 3rd last summer and in 2018 Nikaido won both FIS Cup jumps he competed in. So today second place and who knows what the Japanese will manage in the second competition on Sunday. "I hope that I can follow up on these results here in the winter. The hill of Rasnov is very special for me, of course I like this hill very much," explained Nikaido.

In fourth place, coach Rune Velta's team ensured a strong team result with the second Swiss, Remo Imhof, while veteran Simon Ammann finished in 25th place.
Led by Casey Larson in 5th place, the US boys presented themselves strongly, besides Larson also Decker Dean (11th place) and Andrew Urlaub (16th place) were convincing.
Behind Vladimir Zografski the Ukrainian Yevhen Marusiak was happy about 7th place, Danil Vassilyev from Kazakhstan finished in a strong 10th place.

The second men's Grand Prix in Rasnov will start on Sunday at 16:15.