German podium sweep in Ljubno

The FIS World Cup Ladies Ski Jumping in Ljubno (SLO) ended with a historic result. For the first time one nation took the first three spots on the podium. Katharina Althaus, Carina Vogt and Svenja Würth came in 1st, 2nd and 3rd. Katharina Althaus secured her first World Cup victory with 92,5 and 90,0 meters and 249,0 points.

Althaus: "Its amazing"
She said: “This is amazing. It feels great to win a World Cup. And even better to share the podium with my teammates.” Carina Vogt scored 244,6 points with jumps to 91,0 and 90,0 meters. The Olympic champion said: “It feels really good. I was struggling a lot with this hill in the past. But they put a lot of work in here and made even better than it was before. It’s a fantastic day for our team.”

Wuerth with first podium
Svenja Wuerth, who achieved her first ever World Cup podium, made 92,5 and 89,0 meters and 242,7 points. She said: “It´s unbelievable. In the summer I haven´t been on any team of the federation and had to do the training for myself. Now I am jumping my best ever season. Today is the highlight. I am very happy.” On 4th place, yesterday´s winner Maren Lundby of Norway missed out on the podium by 2,8 points with jumps to 88,5 and 90,5 meters. Jaqueline Seifriedsberger was the best of the Austrian team with efforts to 90,0 and 89,5 meters and 239,2 points.

Klinec with great comeback
She shared the 5th place with local hero Ema Klinec, who came back from 10th place after the first round in front of thousands of cheerful spectators. Manuela Malsiner and Elena Runggaldier on 7th and 10th place delivered a great team result for Italy, Daniela Iraschko-Stolz and Chiara Hoelzl finished 8th and 9th for Austria. Maja Vtic just missed out on the top ten and finished 11th ahead of Ramona Straub and the best US girl, Nita Englund. Spela Rogelj and Lara Malsiner completed the top 15. Julia Kykkaenen proved herself in a good shape 10 days before the opening of the World Championships in Lahti and came in 16th, Ksenia Kablukova was best Russian jumper on 20th place.

First points for China
Xueyao Li secured the first World Cup points this season for the Chinese team on 23rd place, Lucile Morat and Lea Lemare came in 24th and 25th for France. Daniela Haralambie made one World Cup point for Romania on 30th place.

Takanashi close to the victory
Even though she did not compete in Ljubno, Sara Takanashi is on a good way to defend the Overall World Cup title. With only three more competitions coming up and a lead of 256 points over Maren Lundby, Takanashi could win the big crystal globe already in Pyeongchang next week. Katharina Althaus (726) and Daniela Iraschko-Stolz (717) are still fighting for the third place with Japan´s Yuki Ito (928).