Team Japan makes history

The Japanese Team won the first ever Team competition in the FIS World Cup Ladies Ski Jumping. Yuki Ito, Kaori Iwabuchi, Yuka Seto and Sara Takanashi took a clear win with 956,0 points ahead of the teams from Russia and France. The German team, the top favourite before the competition, missed out on the podium by less than ten points despite a heavy fall of Svenja Wuerth in the first round, which made it impossible for her to still compete in the final round.

Ito very strong
The best athlete of the Japanese team was Yuki Ito with jumps to 104,0 and 105,0 meters, Sara Takanashi jumped twice to 102,5 meters. Yuki Ito said: “This is something very special for us because it was the first team event. We are very happy.” Russia´s Irina Avvakumova showed a new hill record in the first round with 108,0 meters, which was outscored only minutes later by Maren Lundby’s jump to 109,0 meters. The other Russian girls, Anastasiya Barannikova, Alexandra Kustova and Sofia Tikhonova showed a solid performance for the well-deserved second place with 863,7 points. Avvakumova said: “The whole team was performing very well today and we are glad to be on the podium. We´ve been talking over breakfast that we can make it.”

France on the podium
The French team was led by Lucile Morat with her longest jump to 107,5 meters in the first round. Lea Lemare, Julia Clair and Romane Dieu finished the job for the third place with 846,4 points. Julia Clair said: “It is a great result for our team to be on the podium. today the most important thing is the team spirit and it was great to see, that we all can perform on such a high level.” Even though the German team basically didn’t have a chance competing with only three athletes in the final, Katharina Althaus was the outstanding athlete of the day with 106,0 and 106,5 meters and will be hard to beat in the Individual competition on Sunday.

Three Germans close to the podium
Carina Vogt and Juliane Seyfarth with good performances almost got their team on the podium. The Slovenian team with Spela Rogelj, Ursa Bogataj, Ema Klinec and Nika Kriznar came in 5th with 829,0 points after improving their performances in the final round and stayed ahead of Austria with Elisabeth Raudaschl, Claudia Purker, Jaqueline Seifriedsberger and Chiara Hoelzl. Norway with Anna Odine Stroem, Thea Sofie Kleven, Silje Opseth and Maren Lundby finished 7th ahead of Team USA with Sarah Hendrickson, Nina Lussi, Abby Rinquist and Nita Englund. Italy, Canada and Romania did not qualify for the final round.

On Sunday the FIS World Cup in Hinterzarten will continue with the Individual competition from 3.30 pm (CET).