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Pole favored to win K90
By Jason Swensen
Deseret News staff writer
UTAH OLYMPIC PARK — Last year hundreds of Polish-Americans traveled here from as far away as Chicago to watch their homeland's new national hero, ski jumper Adam Malysz.
At the time the diminutive Malysz was essentially unbeatable on a ski jump. His January 2001 World Cup stop in Utah ended the way it almost always did — atop the winner's podium. He would go on to finish the 2000-01 World Cup season in dominating fashion, claiming more than half of the World Cup events.
This year Malysz again finds himself at the top of the World Cup standings — but the cushion between he and his rivals is not as fluffy. The flying Pole is being challenged by Germany's Sven Hannawald, who recently won five consecutive World Cup competitions in Malysz-like fashion.
On Sunday the two will find themselves pitted against each other as Olympians in the K90 competition at Utah Olympic Park. Sunday's event — which begins at 8:30 a.m. — was originally scheduled to be the competition "finals." But Friday's qualification round was scratched when wind gusts pummeled the K90 hill and made jumping impossible.
Now the entire field will compete in three rounds of jumping that will see athletes eliminated in the first and second rounds. Look for Malysz and Hannawald to battle for the gold. The remaining medal could go to Hannawald's teammate and former World Cup champ, Martin Schmitt.
Team USA's top athlete going into Sunday's K90 final is Alan Alborn, a soft-spoken Alaskan fast becoming a top-15 international ski jumper.
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February 10, 2002
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