Katharina Althaus wins premiere event in Premanon

Katharina Althaus from Germany won first ever World Cup event held on the HS 90 hill in Premanon (FRA). In the final, the German posted the longest jump of the day establishing a new hill record of 94,5 meters. Second place went to Japan’s Sara Takanashi, third was Slovene Ema Klinec.

Althaus, who was second after the first round, managed to overtake Sara Takanashi who was in the lead halfway through the competition. With the longest jump of the day, the German won with almost 10 points advantage over the Japanese. “It´s great to jump here, the weather today has been good all day, and a great atmosphere. My first jump was ok, but not perfect, and the second was very good, and I´m very happy about my victory today,” said the overwhelmed winner.

For Sara Takanashi, this was the second podium of the season after being third in the first of the Lillehammer Triple series. “I like Premanon, it is a good jump in very nice surroundings. My technique has improved with every jump, and I´m very happy with my result today,” Takanashi said after another successful day.

Ema Klinec who was fourth after the first round managed to move up to place three after a jump of 88,5 meters in the final (247,5 points). “Premanon is amazing. I´m happy. There´s plenty of snow and the atmosphere was good today. My first jump was quite bad, my second jump was much better, but there is still room for improvement. Third place was a very good result today. I would like to congratulate the winner and record holder on this hill Katharina, and congratulations to Sara,” said Klinec.

It was a very successful day for the whole Slovenian team. Place five went to Nika Kriznar (239,9 points), Ursa Bogataj (325,4 points) was sixth. The two Russians Lidiia Iakovleva and Sofia Tikhonova also made it into top-10 today, Iakovleva being fourth, Tikhonova eighth. Second best German was Carina Vogt in seventh today. Olympic champion of Norway Maren Lundby moved from place 13th to ninth. Top-10 was completed by Japanese Yuki Ito.

The best of the host nation today was Lucile Morat in 14th. Young Josephine Pagner made her first ever World Cup points in 30th. The best of the Austrians was Chiara Hoelzl, who moved from 26th to 11th. Lisa Eder made into the final third time in her career finishing 20th today. After a good jump in the first round her teammate Daniela Irsachko-Stolz was disqualified.

Today’s competition was carried out in great weather conditions. Winter seems to have arrived in Premanon just in time for the ladies World Cup premiere in France.

The second competition will be held on Sunday at 11:00 am CET. The qualification will start at 9:45 am CET.

Full results