Ski jumping World Cup Championship: Malysz loses gold medal to Schmitt

Polish ski-jumping sensation Adam Malysz narrowly lost the World Championship, in which he was considered the hands-down favorite after winning eight of the last 10 World Cup events, to his chief rival Martin Schmitt of Germany. Malysz finished the competition in Lahti, Finland with a silver medal. He had a small lead over Schmitt after the first round of jumps, but in the second the German beat the hill record with a leap of 131 meters, which Malysz was unable to match. Next Sunday, Malysz will have one more shot for a gold medal at the Lahti World Championships, in the medium hill competition. (Zycie, p.1, Gazeta Wyborcza, p.1) T.J