1999–2000 FIS Ski Jumping World Cup – Zakopane was a series of ski jumping competitions held as part of the 1999–2000 FIS Ski Jumping World Cup from 17 to 19 December 1999 at the Wielka Krokiew in Zakopane, Poland.
Two individual competitions were contested on the large hill, marking the sixth time Zakopane hosted World Cup ski jumping events. These were the sixth and seventh competitions of the 1999–2000 World Cup season.
Both events were won by German skier Martin Schmitt. Janne Ahonen of Finland finished second in both competitions. The third-place finishers were Lasse Ottesen of Norway in the first event and Andreas Widhölzl of Austria in the second.
This was the fourth time Zakopane hosted two individual large hill competitions in a single World Cup event, following 1996, 1998, and January 1999. In 1980, one competition was held on the normal hill and one on the large hill, while in 1990, a single large hill competition took place.
A total of 86 athletes from 17 nations participated, with the oldest competitor being Norway's Espen Bredesen (31 years, 318 days) and the youngest being Poland's Tomisław Tajner (16 years, 217 days).
Pre-competition
Prior to the Zakopane events, five individual competitions had been held in the 1999–2000 World Cup season. The overall World Cup leader was Martin Schmitt of Germany, with 360 points, 100 points ahead of Austria's Andreas Widhölzl. Andreas Goldberger, also from Austria, held third place with 213 points. In the Nations Cup, Finland led, followed by Austria and Germany.
Previous World Cup events in the season saw victories by Andreas Widhölzl (twice), Janne Ahonen, Martin Schmitt, and Ville Kantee (once each).
The most recent competition before Zakopane, held on 12 December in Villach, was won by Janne Ahonen, ahead of Martin Schmitt and Andreas Widhölzl. Five Finnish and three Japanese skiers placed in the top ten.
World Cup standings before Zakopane + World Cup standings before Zakopane events Rank Athlete Country Points Deficit to leader 1 Germany 360 – 2 Austria 260 100 3 Austria 213 147 4 Finland 202 158 5 Finland 196 164 6 Finland 178 182 7 Finland 159 201 7 Japan 159 201 9 Japan 139 221 10 Austria 130 230 11 Finland 126 234 12 Japan 107 253 13 Finland 98 262 14 Slovenia 92 268 15 Finland 83 277 16 Japan 81 279 17 France 76 284 18 Italy 72 288 19 Austria 71 289 20 Germany 60 300 21 Germany 56 304 22 Switzerland 47 313 23 France 45 315 24 Germany 44 316 25 Poland 43 317 26 Norway 42 318 27 Switzerland 41 319 28 Norway 29 331 29 Italy 24 336 29 Finland 24 336 29 Germany 24 336 32 Austria 22 338 32 Switzerland 22 338 34 Germany 20 340 34 Switzerland 20 340 36 Japan 18 342 36 Poland 18 342 38 Slovenia 17 343 38 South Korea 17 343 40 Japan 16 344 40 Poland 16 344 42 United States 14 346 43 Slovenia 13 347 43 Russia 13 347 45 Czech Republic 12 348 46 Japan 11 349 46 Germany 11 349 46 Austria 11 349 49 Austria 9 351 50 Slovenia 8 352 50 Norway 8 352 50 Slovenia 8 352 53 Norway 7 353 54 Czech Republic 6 354 55 Norway 1 359 55 Czech Republic 1 359
Event organization
A week before the event, organizers faced challenges due to a thaw that caused snow to slide off the landing area of the Wielka Krokiew. They successfully restored the hill, and sub-zero temperatures prevented further snow displacement.
Before the competitions, the president of the Polish Ski Association, , promised cash bonuses for any Polish skier finishing in the top ten of either event: 10,000 PLN for first place, 9,000 PLN for second, down to 1,000 PLN for tenth.
The Zakopane World Cup events were rescheduled from January to December in the 1999–2000 season due to the expiration of the FIS homologation for the Wielka Krokiew on 31 December 1999.
Event schedule The first official training session was scheduled for 17 December 1999, with the second individual competition concluding on 19 December. The program included two individual competitions, two qualifying rounds, and three official training sessions.
Venue The competitions were held at the Wielka Krokiew, a ski jumping hill named after skier Stanisław Marusarz, located on the northern slope of in the Western Tatras. Two individual competitions took place on the large hill. The Wielka Krokiew previously hosted World Cup events in 1980, 1990, 1996, 1998, and January 1999. A planned event in 1981 was canceled.
Jury The competitions were overseen by the International Ski Federation, with as the event director and Miran Tepeš as his assistant. The local organizing committee was led by Polish official Lech Pochwała. The technical delegate for all events was Austria's Gert Aigmüller, assisted by American Bill Erickson.
Judge Country Judging tower position Qualification for firstindividual competition(18 December 1999) First individualcompetition(18 December 1999) Qualification for secondindividual competition(19 December 1999) Second individualcompetition(19 December 1999) Ryszard Guńka Poland C C B B Erkki Mäntyniemi Finland B B E E Ryou Nishikawa Japan A A C C Josef Slavík Czech Republic E E D D Fredi Zarucchi Switzerland D D A A
Competition Training sessions (17 December 1999)
The first of three training sessions began on Friday, 17 December, at 11:00 AM. Martin Schmitt won the session with a jump of 125 meters.
The second training session ended with the longest jump performed by Janne Ahonen. The Finnish representative landed at the 123-meter mark. One meter shorter was the jump made by the winner of the first training round, Martin Schmitt. Ahonen did not take part in the third training round. In that round, Schmitt reached a distance of 113 meters.
80 out of 84 registered athletes from 17 countries took part in the training sessions.
Qualifications for the first individual competition (18 December 1999)
The qualification round for the first individual competition began on 18 December at 11:00 AM. It ended with a victory for Andreas Widhölzl. The runner-up in the World Cup standings made a jump of 128 m. A metre shorter was Jaroslav Sakala, who took second place and was the best among those fighting for a spot in the first round of the competition. Third place went to German jumper Martin Schmitt, who achieved 126 m in his attempt. Competitors with guaranteed participation in the event started their jumps from the 11th and 9th starting gates, while those competing for a spot in the event started from the 13th gate.
A total of 81 out of 84 registered athletes from 17 countries took part in the qualification. Despite being on the start list, Primož Peterka, Pekka Salminen, and Matti Hautamäki did not participate. The latter, who was guaranteed a place in the competition due to his sixth position in the World Cup standings, withdrew from the event. As a result, the right to compete went to Ivan Lunardi, who in qualification had placed first among those not advancing to the competition.
First individual competition (18 December 1999)
The first individual competition began on 18 December at 1:00 PM. It featured 50 competitors from 13 countries. The event took place in strong winds that frequently changed direction. After jumps by Frank Löffler at 125 metres and Lasse Ottesen at 124.5 metres, the competition jury decided to interrupt the event and lower the start gate from position 10 to position 8.
The first jumper after the restart was Norwayn Henning Stensrud, who reached 108.5 metres. Next was Tommy Ingebrigtsen, who landed 14.5 metres farther than his compatriot and became the new leader. After him came , whose 113.5 metre jump placed him second. As the competition went on, the tailwind intensified, making conditions increasingly difficult for jumpers. Among those unable to surpass Ingebrigtsen were Primož Urh-Zupan (111.5 m), Michal Doležal (112 m), and Adam Małysz (108 m). Many subsequent jumps were under 100 metres, though Hiroya Saitō (103 m) and Alexander Herr (101 m) managed to pass that mark.
Michael Uhrmann and Roberto Cecon failed to qualify for the second round with jumps of 95.5 and 96 metres respectively. Kazuyoshi Funaki recorded 103 m. With number 71, Mika Laitinen reached 98 m and missed the final. The winner of the January World Cup event in Zakopane, Janne Ahonen, jumped 121.5 m, placing second just 0.7 points behind Ingebrigtsen. Stefan Horngacher jumped 104 m, while Noriaki Kasai managed 96 m and failed to advance. Hideharu Miyahira reached 103 m, Jani Soininen jumped 113.5 m to take third, and Ville Kantee landed at 106.5 m. Risto Jussilainen flew 122.5 m to lead by 0.6 points over Ingebrigtsen, but Andreas Goldberger jumped half a metre farther to take over first. Andreas Widhölzl landed at 110.5 m. World Cup leader Martin Schmitt recorded the longest jump of the round at 123.5 m, giving him the lead by 0.9 points over Goldberger.
Among the 13 jumpers repeating their first-round attempts, Frank Löffler and Lasse Ottesen were best, each reaching 117.5 m and placing sixth and seventh. After the first round, the top three were Schmitt, Goldberger, and Jussilainen, followed by Ingebrigtsen and Ahonen.
The second round began with Jakub Janda, who jumped 87 m. Reinhard Schwarzenberger, next up, landed 12.5 m farther to take the lead. Hansjörg Jäkle, 28th after the first round (100 m), improved by 5.5 m to lead by 12.2 points. Peter Žonta, in 26th, then jumped 3 m farther and moved ahead by 8.1 points. Žonta stayed in front until Hideharu Miyahira, 22nd after round one, jumped 110.5 m. Kazuyoshi Funaki's 103.5 m was not enough to overtake his teammate. Stefan Horngacher, 18th at the halfway mark, tied Miyahira's 110.5 m and took the lead. Ville Kantee followed with 111.5 m to overtake him. Adam Małysz jumped 4.5 m less than Kantee and slotted into second. Andreas Widhölzl, 12th after round one, soared 124 m to take the lead by 33.2 points. Michal Doležal was 6.5 m shorter, and 99 m cost him a top spot. Jani Soininen's 109.5 m placed him third, but Lasse Ottesen's 121 m moved him into first by 5.2 points over Widhölzl. Frank Löffler's 98 m left him seventh. Janne Ahonen, fifth after round one, landed at 116 m to take the lead thanks to his earlier advantage and strong style marks. Tommy Ingebrigtsen jumped 20 m less and dropped out of podium contention. Risto Jussilainen's 112 m put him fourth, just ahead of Goldberger, who jumped 108.5 m. Martin Schmitt closed with 123.5 m to win by 16.1 points over Ahonen, with Ottesen in third. This was Schmitt's 12th career World Cup win and second of the season.
Qualifications for the second individual competition (19 December 1999)
The qualification round for the second individual competition in Zakopane began on 19 December at 11:00 AM. The winner was Martin Schmitt. The World Cup leader and winner of the first competition jumped 119.5 metres this time. Janne Ahonen from Finland took second place with a jump of 118.5 metres. The third-best qualifier, Kazuyoshi Funaki, reached a distance 5.5 metres shorter. The best jumper among those fighting for a place in the main competition was Mika Laitinen, who took fifth place with a jump of 111.5 metres. All jumpers in the qualification round started their attempts from gate 11.
80 of 82 registered athletes from 17 countries participated in the qualification. Primož Peterka and Andreas Widhölzl did not participate despite being listed. Widhölzl had guaranteed participation in the competition due to his second place in the World Cup standings.
Second individual competition (19 December 1999)
On 19 December at 12:30 PM, the second individual competition on the Wielka Krokiew hill began. 50 athletes from 10 countries took part. The event started amid snowfall.