Youth Cup: Three nations victorious in Harrachov (CZE)

The final FIS Youth Cup events of the 2023/24 season took place in Harrachov (CZE) at the beginning of January.

A total of 118 athletes from 13 nations competed in the Youth Cup I and II. The program included one Individual Gundersen competitions for all categories on Saturday and Sunday.

The first competitions took place on Saturday on Harrachovs HS 73 (CZE) and in the Polana Jakuszycka (POL) cross-country stadium, making it an event with two host nations.

In the Boys I category, after the Ski Jumping part, Jorgen Furfjord from Norway was in the lead with 68.5 meters and 110.7 points.

Rank 2 was taken by Slovenian Timon Brglez with the best jump of the day on 69 meters (109.8 pts), only 3 sec behind the leader.

Nick Seidel (68 m, 109.1 pts) from Germany placed third, 5 seconds behind Furfjord.

With 11 athletes starting the 3.8 km cross-country race within the first minute, a tough fight for the podium could be expected.

Brglez showed a strong race and broke away from his competitors early on. The Slovenian reached the finish line first, while Seidel (+18.3 seconds) moved up to second place. Third place went to Jiri Kubalak (+42.9 sec) from Czechia.

Results: IG, Boys I – 6.1.24 Harrachov

In the Girls I category, Leonie Runggaldier took the lead with 59.5 meters. The Italian collected 84.9 points and was first in the 3.8 km race.

Rank 2 was taken by Ingrid Graesli from Norway with the furthest jump of the day on 65.5 meters (84.1 pts), who placed just 2 sec behind Runggaldier.

Slovenian Masa Likozar Brankovic (58 m, 83.6 pts) placed third, 4 seconds behind the leader.

Also in the girl’s race, 11 athletes went into the course within the first minute.

Brankovic took the lead early and defended it until the finish line, securing the victor 39.4 sec ahead of Anna Brandner from Austria. Runggaldier (+51.4 sec) defended her podium spot with a third place in the end.

Results: IG, Girls I – 6.1.24 Harrachov

In the Boys II category, Illia Chebolda from Ukraine secured the ski jumping victory with the day's best distance of 70 meters. With a total score of 112.5, he went into the subsequent 6.3 km cross-country race with a 4 second lead.

Lukas Dolezal from Czechia took second place with 69.5 meters (111.4 pts).

Third place after ski jumping went to his teammate Jan Kabelac with 68 meters (109.1 pts), 14 seconds behind Chebolda.

In an exciting race, Dolezal prevailed against the competition on home soil and took victory, 25.8 seconds ahead of Alvin Le from Norway. Austrian Lukas Muehlbacher (+32.5 sec) completed the podium in third place.

Results: IG, Boys II – 6.1.24 Harrachov

In the Girls II competition, Giulia Belz took the lead after the ski jumping part with the day's best distance of 60.5 meters. The Swiss woman collected 87.6 points and started the 5km race with an 8 second lead.

The Italian Ludovica Del Bianco (60 m, 85 pts) took second place ahead of her teammate Erika Pinzani (54.5 m, +40 sec).

Belz achieved a confident start-to-finish victory. With a lead of 28.2 seconds, the Swiss reached the finish line first, ahead of Eva-Maria Holzer from Austria and Del Bianco (+48.8 seconds) in second and third place.

Results: IG, Girls II – 6.1.24 Harrachov