Sara Takanashi won also the World Cup on Sunday in Ljubno and so yet won the overall World Cup. Coline Mattel and Sarah Hendrickson took places two and three.
What a nice competition! The second World Cup in Ljubno on Sunday was even attended by some more spectators than the first one yesterday, so the atmosphere at the hill was again just great. But also the wind conditions were slightly better today, so the sporting performance, that was already on a high level yesterday, was today even a little higher. All in all this was one of the nicest competitions this winter.
World Cup leader Sara Takanashi from Japan simply seems to be unbeatable at the moment. Even with a shortened inrun she jumped 89.5 and 92.0 meters and so won with an advantage of over 20 points. This is her fourth World Cup win in a row. “These were perfect jumps. I am not just happy because of the result, but also because I was able to enjoy the jumps themselves,” she said.
Second behind her came France’s Coline Mattel by jumping 87.0 meters twice. “This was great competition. Not only because of the spectators, but because the wind conditions were better than yesterday, so we all jumped better today,” she said.
After jumping 85.5 meters in the first round Sarah Hendrickson from America was only fifth at half-time. But with a great jump of 88.0 meters in the final round she eventually took the third place. “In the first round I struggled a little today but then I was able to turn around and make it to the podium. So I am supersatisfied now,” she said.
Best of the strong Slovenian team – that had six jumpers within the best 13 today – came Katja Pozun on the fourth place. After the first round she was still on the second place with a jump of 87.5 meters, but by jumping 85.5 meters in the second round she fell back to this position. Fifth came Lindsey Van (USA) with two jumps of 86.0 meters. With Spela Rogelj another Slovenian took the sixth place with jumps of 87.0 and 84.5 meters.
With this victory today Takanashi has also won the overall World Cup already. She scored so far 1137 points and so leads by 290 points over second ranked Hendrickson who has 847 points. There are only two more World Cups to come, so there is not even a numeric chance for Hendrickson to catch up to Takanashi. Sara Takanashi will receive the Crystal Globe as award for this overall victory at the World Cup final in Oslo in four weeks. Third in the overall standings is now Mattel with 733 points.
RESULTS AND STANDINGS:
Results after the 1st round »
Final results of the competition »
Current overall World Cup standings »
Current Nations Cup standings »