JWSC: Germany claims Mixed Team gold

Germany won the gold medal in the Mixed Team competition of the FIS Junior World Ski Championships in Planica (SLO) today.

The Germans were already in the lead after the Ski Jumping round on the HS 102, after Ronja Loh and Richard Stenzel both jumped the furthest distance of the day with 98 meters. Tristan Sommerfeldt (97 m) and Anne Haeckel (94 m) completed the solid performance for their team that collected a total of 459.7 points.

Rank 2 after jumping went to Team Japan with Yuzuka Fujiwara (84.5 m), Kyotaro Yamazaki (98 m), Atsushi Narita (95.5 m) and Hazuki Ikeda (91 m), who collected 424.1 poins and went into the course 36 seconds after the Germans.

Team Norway with Nora Helene Evans (84.5 m), Even Leinan Lund (93 m), Joergen Berget Storsveen (96 m) and Ingrid Laate (94.5 m), placed third, 38 seconds behind the leaders.

In an exciting cross-country race, Stenzel, who went into the course first, confidently defended the lead for Germany, while Yamazaki was caught by Leinan Lund already on the first kilometer and handed over to Ikeda on third place, after the first 5 km.

The Japanese managed to close the gap to Laate after 6.25 km, but couldn’t keep up with the high speed of the Norwegian for long. At the same time, Marion Droz Vincent tried to catch up to Ikeda and put France on course for a medal, only 13 seconds behind at the second exchange.

But Ikeda handing over to Fujiwara, the tide turned completely, as the Japanese not only immediately increased the gap to France, but also overtook Evans, who had no chance and lost a whopping 26.8 seconds to the Japanese on the 2.5km lap.

At the third and final exchange, Japan was only 18.6 seconds behind Ronja Loh, who handed over to Tristan Sommerfeldt, who managed to extend the German lead again.

Narita consistently defended second place for Japan against Berget Storsveen, who continued to fall behind despite his full effort.

While Sommerfeldt secured the gold medal for Germany, Narita (+27.2 sec) brought silver to Japan, ahead of Berget Storsveen (+1:02.2 min), who defended bronze for Norway.

SJ Results: JWSC MX HS102/15km, 7.2.24 Planica 
Official Results: JWSC MX HS102/15km, 7.2.24 Planica