Sarah Hendrickson won the World Cup on Friday in Trondheim ahead of Sara Takanashi and Jacqueline Seifriedsberger.
Perfect weather – perfect competition in Trondheim. The last but one World Cup of this winter was simply typical for the entire season: A very strong performance by the whole field and on top we saw the next round in the battle of the Sara(h)s.
In the end Sarah Hendrickson from America won this competition with a pair of jumps of 101.5 and 101.0 meters. Nevertheless the 105.0 meter jump in the first round by her rival Sara Takanashi was the farthest jump of the day and marks a new hill record. But as the Japanese got only low style points by the judges for it, Hendrickson was already in the lead at half-time. 100.0 meters in the second, again with low judges marks, did not help Takanashi to catch Hendrickson up and so she eventually took the second place. Third behind the Sara(h)s came Austria’s Jacqueline Seifriedsberger with jumps of 99.0 and 102.0 meters, so today’s podium was similar to the one at World Championships in Predazzo three weeks ago.
Fourth came Jessica Jerome from America with jumps of 98.5 and 97.0 meters, she was third after the first round. The fifth place was taken by Slovenia’s Katja Pozun, who jumped 98.5 and 97.0 meters and sixth came France’s Coline Mattel with jumps of 93.0 and 97.5 meters.
Remarkable is the performance of China’s Liu Qi. With jumps of 96.5 and 98.5 meters she came seventh, and so is able to celebrate the best result ever of a Chinese athlete at a winter sports world cup. After her 15th place in February in Ljubno and her fine performance yesterday in the official training this result came not totally surprising, but for sure is noteworthy.
The World Cup Final on the Holmenkollen large hill in Oslo will be held on Sunday, 14:00 h CET.
Quotes of the best three jumpers:
Sarah Hendrickson: “It was my first time here in Trondheim and it was a fantastic day for me. The season is coming to an end but I am in a good shape. Now I am really looking forward to Oslo. The bigger the hill, the better for me.”
Sara Takanashi: “Unfortunately I was not able to set the telemark. Moreover I was a bit late at the take-off in the final round. Nevertheless I made it onto the podium and that makes me happy.”
Jacqueline Seifriedsberger: “This is my first podium place in Norway, of course I am happy about that. I am satisfied with my jumps today but not with the landing in both rounds.”
RESULTS AND STANDINGS:
Results after the 1st round »
Final results of the competition »
Current overall World Cup standings »