Ren Nikaido and Team Austria win in Rasnov
Sep 17, 2022·Ski Jumping
Japan's Ren Nikaido claimed the first big win of his career in the FIS Grand Prix in Rasnov. Nikaido has almost no international experience at the World Cup level so far, but he could show his potential with top results in the Continental Cup recently. The 21-year-old was already jumping very well in training and in the Super Team Event today, before his success in the individual competition.
This afternoon, Nikaido also benefited from the fact that compensation points for tailwind wind are newly calculated starting this summer. In his first jump, Nikaido had a lot of tailwind, but due to the added points, he was able to finish the round in second. Bulgaria's Vladimir Zografski was the half-time leader.
In the final round, Nikaido then proved to have strong nerves and posted a great jump. Zografski couldn't keep up with that and ended up third overall. The second place went to Poland's Pawel Wasek, who also showed a strong performance in Rasnov.
Daniel Huber, fourth after the first jump, injured his knee after the landing and was not able to compete in the final round. He was already struggling with knee problems during a training camp in Planica last week.
The places four and fifth today went to the two Austrians Manuel Fettner and Daniel Tschofenig, who won the first edition of the Super Team event just two hours earlier (see report below).
The two Poles Kamil Stoch and Dawid Kubacki still share the overall lead in the FIS Grand Prix with 180 points each. Manuel Fettner could not seize the opportunity to take the lead today, but with 150 points he is currently third and still has the chance to win the 2022 Grand Prix in the final competitions in Hinzenbach (AUT) and Klingenthal (GER).
Pawel Wasek was able to move up seven places in the overall ranking and is now fourth with 142 points.
Team Austria wins Super Team premiere
Two athletes per nation, three competition rounds, and Austria took the win in the end: The first-ever Super Team Event was held right before the men's individual competition in Rasnov.
Manuel Fettner and Daniel Tschofenig took the win in this first Super Team competition in Ski Jumping history. The two Austrians came in ahead of the teams of Poland (Stefan Hula, Pawel Wasek) and Japan (Ren Nikaido, Reruhi Shimizu ).
"In the end, it was pretty simple: six good jumps and it worked with the win, we are both satisfied and it was really a lot of fun today. It was a bit more stressful than a normal team competition because there are only two guys on a team and everyone had to make three jumps. But on the other hand, it's also really cool because if you are behind after the second round you still have to chance to close the gap and that makes it exciting", said Daniel Tschofenig, for whom this was the first Grand Prix win of his career. Manuel Fettner claimed his maiden win just four weeks ago in Courchevel.
Pawel Wasek and Stefan Hula showed a convincing performance for Poland, they came in 13.6 points behind the Austrians after six jumps. The third place went to the team of Japan, with Reruhi Shimizu and Ren Nikaido. Norway, Switzerland, Slovenia, the USA, and Germany landed in places 4 - 8.
Today's competition was just a first test: "I think it was an exciting test that we can now build on. We will analyze the competition in the coming days and also collect the feedback of the teams before we make a decision about the future of this format. Basically, I'm very satisfied with how the competition went today", FIS Race Director Sandro Pertile explained.
The premiere of the Super Team Event was originally planned for Sunday, but due to a forecasted thunderstorm with strong winds on Sunday afternoon it was rescheduled to Saturday. The final competition in Rasnov is the mixed team event on Sunday morning.
The Grand Prix then continues in Hinzenbach (AUT) next weekend.
