Japan won the mixed-team event in Hinterzarten ahead of Slovenia and Germany.
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fot. Stefan Diaz
Japan simply seems to be unbeatable in mixed-team competitions at the moment. After winning already the World Championships in this new competition format this winter, they also won the mixed-team Grand Prix competition in Hinterzarten today. Yuki Ito, Noriaki Kasai, Sara Takanashi and Yuta Watase were in the lead from the first jump on and so won with 907.6 points. The hot temperatures in Hinterzarten, that were today even a little higher than yesterday, were no problem for them. Kasai said that they reminded him of home: “I really enjoyed the heat here. In Japan I always go to Okinawa, because I like the warm climate there.”
Ito: 98.5 and 94.0 m, Kasai: 103.0 and 92.0 m, Takanashi: 105.5 and 94.0 m, Watase: 98.0 and 95.5 m
Over a long distance of the race the team from Slovenia, with Maja Vtic, Nejc Dezman, Katja Pozun and Matjaz Pungertar, was only on the fourth position, but with the last two jumps they were able to catch up with Germany and Canada and so eventually came second. “It is fun to jump together with the girls. It makes it more interesting again, because it is something different”, said Dezman.
Vtic: 88.5 and 103.5 m, Dezman: twice 100.5 m, Pozun: 92.0 and 96.0 m, Pungertar: 100.0 and 101.5.
The team of the hosting nation Germany, with Ulrike Grässler, Andreas Wank, Svenja Würth and Richard Freitag, scored 873.3 points and so took eventually the third place. Wank fell after landing his outstanding jump of 107.5 meters. Luckily he did nut suffer any injury, but one of his shoes got broken. „This was my first mixed-team competition, so I am happy that I got the chance to be a part of the team. But unfortunately my jumps today were not as I wanted them to be. Those were my two weakest jumps of the whole weekend.”, said Svenja Würth.
Grässler: 97.5 and 93.0 m, Wank: 102.5 and 107.5 m, Würth: twice 98.5, Freitag: 106.5 and 106.0 m.
Canada, with Atsuko Tanaka, Dusty Korek, yesterday’s winner Alexandra Pretorius and Mackenzie Boyd-Clowes still had the chance to take the second place until the very last jump. But while all other jumpers of the last group had some good headwind, their final jumper Boyd-Clowes had to fight tailwind and so landed already after 88.0 meters – unlucky fourth place with 868.7 points.
Tanaka: 98.5 and 92.0 m, Korek: 98.0 and 93.5 m, Pretorius: 102.5 and 105.5 m, Boyd-Clowes: 87.5 and 88.0 m.
On places five to eight followed the teams from France, Italy, Austria and Switzerland. The Czech Republic and Russia did not see the final round.
Full results can be found here:
http://www.fis-ski.com/pdf/2014/JP/3715/2014JP3715RL.pdf