Nowak, Bendi, Andersen and Niittykoski lead Youth Cup after Harrachov

The third of four FIS Youth Cup competition weekends in the 2016/17 season is history and Harrachov in the Czech Republic hosted the first one in the winter in the past days.

The current leaders of the newly introduced overall standings are Germany’s Jenny Nowak in the Girls Youth I category and Annemarii Bendi from Estonia in the Girls Youth II class. On the boys side, the two leaders are called Jan Andersen (GER) and Otto Niittykoski (FIN).

Westvold Hansen and Moreschini dominate girls’ events

The podium for the Girls Youth I events was identical in both the longer and shorter versions of the Individual Gundersen events on Saturday and Sunday. Norway’s Gyda Westvold Hansen dominated with two victories and was able to beat off Germany’s Jenny Nowak by 22 and 25 seconds respectively. Austrian Lisa Hirner captured two third positions, finishing 31 seconds behind Westvold Hansen on Saturday and 34.5 seconds later on Sunday.

In the category of the older girls, Italian Lisa Moreschini celebrated a double victory on the past weekend. On day one, Moreschini decided a close fight with Norway’s Anna Odine Strøm in her favour by 16 seconds, on Sunday, she luxuriated in a comfortable advantage of one minute and 21 seconds on German Sophia Maurus on the finish line.

Victories for Andersen, Alter and local hero Zemek

Estonia’s Markkus Alter and Jan Andersen from Germany faced off for the wins in the Youth I category for the boys. On Saturday, Andersen had the better end with 26 seconds of advantage on the finish line, on Sunday it was Alter’s time to shine. The Estonian won and beat Andersen by 22.2 seconds. Niklar Pfeuffer (GER) and Matic Hladnik from Slovenia captured a third rank each (+0:27 and +0:32).

Local hero David Zemek delighted the home crowd with two victories in the Youth II category. He beat overall leader Otto Niittkykoski from Finland by 5 and 46.4 seconds on the two competition days. Ukraine’s Dmytro Mazurchuk claimed position three on Saturday, just seven seconds off the winning time and Austrian Fabian Hafner stood on the podium on Sunday after having finished 49.4 seconds after Zemek, narrowly beating out Poland’s Piots Kudzia by 0.5 seconds.