Sara Takanashi won both World Cups in Zao, Jacqueline Seifriedsberger twice second, Carina Vogt and Sarah Hendrickson third.
The weather conditions in Zao were way better today than on the last two days and so it was eventually possible to jump under regular conditions. So two World Cups were held there today, one as replacement for the cancelled competition from Saturday. Winner of both competitions came local heroine Sara Takanashi
First World Cup: Takanashi ahead of Seifriedsberger and Vogt
She won the first competition with a pair of jumps of 95.5 and 93.5 meters. Second came Austria’s Jacqueline Seifriedsberger with 88.0 and 92.5 meters. Carina Vogt from Germany took the third place with by jumping 89.0 and 85.0 meters. That’s her first podium of this winter.
Sarah Hendrickson (USA) was third at half time with an 88.0 meter jump in the first round, but 85.0 meters were just enough to finally take the fourth place. Her team-mate Jessica Jerome came fifth with jumps of 86.0 and 88.5 meters. Sixth place was taken by Spela Rogelj from Slovenia with jumps of 84.5 and 90.5 meters.
Second World Cup: Takanashi ahead of Seifriedsberger and Hendrickson
In the second competition Takanashi jumped 102.0 and 94.0 meters and so once again was the winner. Second came again Seifriedsberger with jumps of 96.0 and 92.5 meters. This time Hendrickson got third by jumping of 93.0 and 93.0 meters and Vogt got fourth (92.0 and 91.0 m). Slovenia’s Ursa Bogataj on the fifth place celebrated her best World Cup result so far with jumps of 88.0 and 86.0 meters. Jerome came sixth with jumps of 88.0 and 87.5 meters.
Sara Takanashi: “I am unbelievably happy about those two victories today, especially because I was able to celebrate them in front of my home crowd. It’s great that we were so lucky with the weather today and that we saw two really good competitions.”
Jacqueline Seifriedsberger: “Of course it was not that easy for us after the official training and the first competition on Saturday had been cancelled. But in situations like that you have to stay focused and that worked out pretty well for me today. I am absolutely satisfied with both of my results.”
Carina Vogt: “I have to admit that the last two weeks have been quite stressful. Actually I did not feel that well today and because of that I am even happier that I managed to achieve this good result.”
Sarah Hendrickson : “There have been a lot of delays during the past days and we did not know how the weather would look like today. Nice to see that everything worked out well and that the conditions were so fine. For our team it was not an easy week because our coach had to leave Japan, but right now I am really happy about my result.” (The mother of coach Paulo Bernardi died last week, so he traveled home and did not stay with the team.)
Takanashi has now 937 points in the overall World Cup, and so is 230 points ahead of Hendrickson who has 707 points. There are only four more World Cups to come, so Takanashi has the chance to win the overall cup already next weekend in Ljubno. Third is Seifriedsberger with 697 points.
RESULTS WC-1:
Results after the 1st round »
Final results of the competition »
RESULTS WC-2 AND STANDINGS:
Results after the 1st round »
Final results of the competition »
Current overall World Cup standings »
Current Nations Cup standings »