Sara Takanashi won on Saturday in Falun ahead of Yuki Ito and Julia Kykkänen. Due to strong winds in the afternoon, the competition was postponed.
The weather forecast was right: Next to sun and blue sky there was heavy wind Falun all day. Gusts of up to 13 meters per second made it simply impossible to jump. At first the trial round was cancelled, then the competition got postponed again and again. But when the sun finally set, the wind got lower and it was possible to kick-off the competition with a delay of three hours. The wind stayed calm and so the competition was actually a very nice and fair one.
Falun, venue of next year’s World Championships, also host the Cross Country and Nordic Combined World Cup this weekend. The cross country races in the afternoon were attended by some thousand spectators, but sadly only a handful of them stayed to watch the Ladies Ski Jumping competition.
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fot. Stefan Diaz
Winner of the competition came once more Sara Takanashi. The Japanese, who is already fixed as winner of the overall World Cup made jumps of 90.5 and 91.0 meters and so celebrates her 14th season win. Her team-mate Yuki Ito, who already performed very strong in yesterday’s official training, took the second place. She made two nice jumps of 89.5 and 89.0 meters. Julia Kykkänen from Finland came third behind the two Japanese by jumping 86.0 and 87.0 meters. This is the second World Cup podium in her career, after taking already a third place six weeks ago in Hinzenbach.
Julia Clair from France missed the podium just by an eyelash. For her jumps of 83.5 and 87.0 meters she scored in total 0.1 points less as Kykkänen and so came fourth. She was the only jumper who faced decent tailwind in both rounds. Germany’s Carina Vogt was third after the first round, when she jumped 88.5 meters. But with a second jump of 84.0 meters she fell back to the fifth place. Spela Rogelj from Slovenia took the sixth place with a pair of jumps of 84.0 and 87.5 meters. This is her best result in this winter. In total this was a highly successful competition for the Slovenian team, as Katja Pozun and Eva Logar took places seven and nine.
The only competitor from the United States, Jessica Jerome, came seventh. Also the French team can be very satisfied with this competition. Not only because of the fourth place of Clair, but also because Coline Mattel and Lea Lemare took places ten and eleven.
The second competition here in Falun will be held tomorrow morning at 10 o’clock.
RESULTS AND STANDINGS:
Results after the 1st round »
Final results of the competition »
Current overall World Cup standings »