Chiara Kreuzer won Saturday’s FIS World Cup individual competition at the Aigner-Schanze (HS90) in Hinzenbach. The Austrian athlete jumped 89 m and 88.5 m, winning by 0.1 points ahead of Eva Pinkelnig. Third was Nozomi Maruyama.
Katharina Althaus was in the lead after the first round. The second athlete of World Cup overall standings reached 88.5 meters and was 1.8 points ahead of Chiara Kreuzer (89 m) and 1.9 points over Nozomi Maruyama (91.5 m). Just behind the top three were Ema Klinec (88 m), Eva Pinkelnig (87.5 m) and Thea Minyan Bjoerseth (89 m).
In the final, the fans witnessed a fierce rivalry for victory, and the top four athletes closed in a difference of 0.9 points. Finally, Chiara Kreuzer (88.5 m) reached the seventh World Cup win in her career, being only 0.1 points ahead of Eva Pinkelnig (90 m). The lowest step of the podium was taken by Nozomi Maruyama (90.5 m). The Japanese defeated Ema Klinec (88 m) with the smallest possible advantage. Fifth was another Slovenian, Nika Prevc (89.5 m).
In the World Cup overall standings, Eva Pinkelnig’s advantage (1,322 points) over Katharina Althaus (1,093 points) increased to 229 points. Ema Klinec (885 points) moved up to third place, five points ahead of Anna Odine Stroem (880 points).
The next FIS World Cup competitions are planned next week, on February 17-18 in Rasnov (HS97). The competitions in Romania will be the last start for the athletes before the main event of the season – the Nordic World Ski Championships in Planica.