Jacqueline Seifriedsberger wins the first Continental Cup in Oberwiesenthal. Coline Mattel and Sarah Hendrickson take second and third place.
The good breeze of upwind that was here in Oberwiesenthal during the official training this morning, had changed to slight tailwind for the start of the competition. Caused by this, jumps were in general slightly shorter then in the training. Nevertheless the same jumpers that were already strong in the trainings were able to put their marks on the competition. But again the result was very close as the entire competition was full with jumps on a very high level.
Austria’s Jacqueline Seifriedsberger was already in the lead after jumping 96.5 m the first round. Behind her Yuki Ito (JPN, 94.0 m) and Coline Mattel (FRA, 94.0 m) shared the second rank with equal points. Sara Takanashi (JPN, 93.5 m) was on the fourth position, ahead of Slovenia’s Maja Vtic (94.0 m). On the sixth rank was Sarah Hendrickson (USA, 92.5 m). Totally surprising, Norway’s Anette Sagen, 54-times CoC winner, did not see the second round after a totally screwed up jump.
In the second round the result of the first was mixed up a little. Most remarkable is maybe the result of the Germans Jenna Mohr and Ulrike Grässler. Mohr was able to jump from 16 to nine (88.5 and
93.0 m), Grässler from eleven to eight (89.5 and 94.0). In contrary their team-mate Juliane Seyfarth fell back from 9th to 18th rank (90.0 and 83.0). Also Japan’s Ayumi Watase was able to catch up and jumped from 20 to 15 (85.0 and 91.0 m).
Also among the top six some places changed in the second round. Jumping on 91 meters, Ito fell back from the second to the sixth rank. Vtic was able to defend her fifth rank with a jump on 93.5 meters. Takanashi took the fourth rank (92.5 m). The biggest step forward among the top six made Hendrickson. A jump on 94.5 meters was enough for to take the third place, after still being sixth after the first round. For Mattel, the longest jump of the competition on 98.0 meters was not sufficient to overtake Seifriedsberger, as the Austrian again jumped on 96.5 meters and finally had 1.5 points more then the French. I did not expect to win, but I am happy that it worked so well, Seifriedsberger said to Ladies-Skijumping.com. For the 2008 Junior World Champion it is the second win in a Continental Cup, after a victory in Pöhla in 2007.
Also Mattel was happy, despite she did not win: I am happy, because my second jump was very good. After the first I knew, that I could do better, because it was not my highest level. She did not expect too much after her win in Pöhla on Wednesday: Not everybody was in Pöhla. So here it was more difficult, she said to Ladies-Skijumping.com
With her third place, Hendrickson is still in the lead in the overall Continental Cup. She has 220 points now. But as she won’t be able to participate at the competitions in Norway, a overall win is not in her thoughts. I just try to jump well. But I hope I can stay in the lead after tomorrow, she said to Ladies-Skijumping.com. Second in the overall standings is Takanashi (175 points), third Mohr (145 points).
RESULTS AND STANDINGS:
The results after the 1st round »
The final results of the competition »
Current overall standings of the Ladies CoC…»