Aigro did it in a poorly-staffed competition in Wisła – the strongest line-up was fielded only by Poles, Norwegians and Italians, but there is no point in belittling his success. Especially since his jumps looked good here already on Friday. He was the fourth most solid jumper at that time, and only the Norwegians Marius Lindvik and Kristoffer were ahead of him Eriksen Sundal, and also David Kubacki.
Aigro jumped onto the podium, breaking the hill record. Estonia has never had such a result
On Saturday, the Estonian already had his first series he was in the game for the podium, taking fourth place after jumping 130 meters. At that time, he was 1.9 points behind the third Swiss Gregor Deschwanden. However, in the final series, he clearly attacked: he jumped 133.5 meters, briefly breaking the summer record of the rebuilt hill in Wisła-Malinka. Shortly afterwards, Marius Lindvik took it from him, landing two meters further, but he was also the only competitor to overtake Aigro. Deschwanden came in third, and Johann Andre Forfang, who was second at the halfway point, dropped to fourth place.
Aigro could start to enjoy his historic result. Probably few would have predicted before the start of this weekend that it would be this particular jumper who would be able to stand on the podium. And he managed to win the first podium in the highest level competition for his country – until now, the best Estonian result was the sixth place of Kaarel Nurmsalu in March 2014, during the World Cup in Oslo.
Aigro, however, has so far finished in the World Cup at a high of fourteenth place in Ruka in 2020, and thirteenth in LGP two years later. Second place is now an unimaginable result compared to the previous results of the Estonian, who scored only 66 points in the World Cup general classification last winter.
Cooperation with Norwegians is key to Aigro's success. “I changed a lot thanks to them”
– If someone told me that I would stand on the podium this summer, I would rather say that it is impossible. Or possible, but I would not believe it. And today it happened and I am really happy that I managed to do it – Artti Aigro comments on his sensational second place in Wisła in an interview with Sport.pl.
Where did Aigro's good form come from? It seems that his cooperation with the Norwegians may pay off. He has been training with them since last season, and before that he was part of the Finnish team for three years. – The competitors are open to what the coaches want for them, and the coaches listen to what the jumpers have to say. This cooperation is very good for me. Thanks to it, I have changed a lot in training, both in terms of motor skills and technique. On the hill itself, it also looks a bit different – Aigro assesses training with the Norwegians.
– My podium shows that even competitors from smaller nations have a chance to be at the top in ski jumping. I try to do my job well and such a result is a reward for it. Now I want to work even harder and who knows, maybe I will climb another step of the podium – adds Artti Aigro.
He will have a chance to fight for victory on Sunday. The prologue is scheduled for 2 p.m., and the first series of the second LGP competition in Wisła is to start at 3 p.m.