Team Japan dominates in Zao

As earlier this season in Hinterzarten, the Japanese girls delivered a great team performance and won the team competition with 761.7 points leaving the second-best team, Slovenia, 54.9 points behind. Sara Takanashi soard 93 m and 89 m and combined with strong Yuki Ito (89,5 m and 95 m), Yuka Seto and Kaori Iwabuchi, made it clear they are still the very best team in women ski jumping. “It is very important to win for our fans here in Zao. My jumps are getting better, but I still have some work to do”, said Yuki Ito after the competition.

The Slovenian team of Nika Kriznar, Ema Klinec, Spela Rogelj and Ursa Bogataj scored 706.8 point and came in a well-deserved second place. Nika Kriznar, who posted two consistent jumps on 91,5 m, was satisfied with her performance: “I am very happy. I made very good jumps today”.

Important result for Russia

The third place went to Russia. All girls (Irina Avvakumova, Sofia Tikhonova, Alexandra Kustova and Anastasiya Barannikova) delivered a good team performance and earned a total of 696.8 points. “It is a very crucial result to be on the podium one month before the Olympics because we got an important competition experience and a winning experience. Personally, I expected to jump better in this event, but the whole team did a great job”, stated Sofia Tikhonova.

Germans behind the podium

The Germans (Ramona Straub, Juliane Seyfarth, Anna Rupprecht and Gianina Ernst) finished on the fourth place and showed that even without Katharina Althaus and Carina Vogt, they are still a strong team. It was especially Juliane Seyfath (89 m and 91 m) who jumped well today in Zao.

Despite Maren Lundby´s effort (89,5 m and 95,5 m), the Norwegian team came in fifth, losing 35 points to Germany. Team Austria followed in sixth. USA and Canada took places 7. and 8.

The second individual competition in Zao starts at 8:00 am CET. Qualification will be held before the competition (6:45 am).