Vladimir Zografski
| Vladimir Zografski | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Full name | Vladimir Zografski | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Born |
July 14, 1993 Samokov, Bulgaria | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 164 cm (5 ft 5 in) | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Ski club | SC Samokov | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Personal best | 213,5 (Planica) | |||||||||||||||||||||
| World Cup career | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Seasons | 2008–present | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Individual wins | 0 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Indiv. podiums | 1 | |||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Updated on January 2013. | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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Vladimir Zografski, born 14 July 1993 in Samokov, Bulgaria is a Bulgarian ski jumper. He took a 43rd place in the K-90 Normal hill competition in the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships 2009 in Liberec, Czech Republic.[1] Zografski is the son of former Olympic ski jumper Emil Zografski.
Zografski's instructors are Joachim Winterlich, the trainer of the successful German ski jumper Jens Weißflog, and his father Emil Zografski.[2] Vladimir has a little brother, Martin Zografski who is also a ski jumper and part of the Bulgarian development team.
Career
Early years
Zografski's started jumping at an early age, in the plastic covered hills at Chernia kos, Samokov.
Zografski's debut in the Ski jumping Continental Cup occurred in 2005 when he was 12 years old. In 2007 he made his debut in the Junior World Championships in Tarvisio, Italy. He finished last. His best placement in the Ski Jumping Fis-Cup was a fourth place in Oberwiesenthal 2008. This season in Continental Cup, his best placement was a 23rd in Villach 2008.[1]
Becoming an elite athlete
He made his World Cup debut in December 2008, with a 43rd place in Pragelato.[1] 2008–09 Zografski had kind of an international breakthrough. Zografski received the silver medal at the European Olympic Youth Festival in Sczyrk 2009.[3] He took a 43rd place in the Normal Hill competition in the World Championships 2009 in Liberec. He was on the 26th place in the qualification. In a Summer Grand-Prix competition in Klingenthal he received a 36th place. Back then his best placement ever at WC-level. In Bischofshofen 2010 he received a ninth place in the Ski jumping Continental Cup, at this time his best placement in Continental Cup (CoC) The same season he also competed in the Junior World Championships which took place in Hinterzarten, Germany. Zografski finished 7th with jumps on 104 and 99 metres. Zografski began the summer season very good with a 4th place in a CoC competition in Garmisch-Partenkirchen. A week later he competed in the Summer Grand Prix (SGP) which is a World Cup level competition and made it into the second round. In the second round he jumped 100 m and took the 1st place at that point. At the end Zografski finished 17th, reaching his first points on the highest level of ski jumping competition.
On 13 August 2010 he reached a new career high by jumping to 5th place in SGP at Courchevel, and at the end of September he won two second places in Continental Cup at Almaty, Kazakhstan. The Winter 2010/11 did not start well in Kuusamo and Kuopio but in Engelberg, Zografski got his first World Cup points ever by a 28th and a 23rd place. He then continued with a 16th and 19th place in Oberstdorf and Garmisch-Partenkirchen during the Four Hills Tournament. Although in Innsbruck he was disqualified as his skis were too long, which later started a major conflict in ski jumping. His father and trainer Emil Zografski argued that east European athletes and more unknown jumpers were being treated worse by the FIS. In the last 4HT competition in Bischofshofen he failed to reach the final and finished 35th. Totally, in the Four Hills Tournament he finished 37th with 450.6 points.
In 2011 he also won the Junior World Championships in Otepää, Estonia ahead of Kaarel Nurmsalu representing Estonia.
In 2011–12 Zografski had his major international breakthrough. After finishing 12th in the Summer Grand Prix and picking up a few top-5 placements he started the World Cup season in Kuusamo. Although not being able to pick up any wins or remarkable performances he established himself as one of the top athletes in the World Cup. His best performances was an 8th place at Lillehammer and a 4th place in Hakuba. Apart from that he was frequently in the top-20 in the World Cup. By this time Zografski was also more known in his home country Bulgaria, and started getting more attention. Zografski was featured in TV, radio and many news magazines and did interviews. He also won the Winter Sports performance of the year in Bulgaria due to his World Championship win in Otepää. Although in mid-season 2011–2012 Zografski had very bad form and failed to qualify for some of the World Cup events. He finished the season with a 20th place in Holmenkollen, Oslo. His final score this season was 61 points and he was ranked as number 45 in the world.
In April he was sidelined for a while due to an arm injury but managed to come back to the first Grand Prix competition in Poland. Just as in 2011 Zografski was very successful in the Summer Grand Prix and finished 13th in total. His best performance, a 4th place in Hakuba. In the World Cup season 2012–13 he has been able to pick up points in almost every competition. The best this far is his 10th place in Engelberg, Switzerland. As of 4 January 2013, Zografski has 72 points and is ranked 27th which makes this one his best season so far.
Personal
Zografski is engaged to Lyubov Todorova.