Maren Lundby wins in Oberstdorf
Feb 16, 2019·Ski Jumping
It was a great duel in bright sunshine in the Ski Jumping arena of Oberstdorf. In the end, Maren Lundby of Norway won the exciting first competition of the weekend in Oberstdorf. With 270.5 points, she came in 0.4 points ahead of local hero Katharina Althaus. Ursa Bogataj of Slovenia came in third, clearly behind the top two.
Lundby jumped on 126 m and 125.5 m on the HS 137 hill in Oberstdorf and prolonged her great streak. It was the 21st World Cup win for the Olympic champion, the eighth this season. "I am really surprised about today’s victory. I had a feeling these were not my best jumps. It is great fun to jump in front of such an audience, I hope this will also be the case when we compete in the Raw Air and the World Championships", explained the winner.
The longest jump of the day of 128 m in the final round was not enough for Katharina Althaus to beat Maren Lundby, who is in such a strong shape right now. "It was a pretty close competition today, but I am very happy to stand on the podium at home. It is great to jump when there are so many people watching us, my whole family is here, my boyfriend, my friends. Tomorrow is another day and I hope a can be a bit better", said Althaus.
For Ursa Bogataj, who was 26 points behind Althaus, today's third place was the second podium of her career. A week ago she also finished third in her home event in Ljubno. "I am very happy, I have not expected such a result on the big hill, my jumps are usually not that good on big hills. I am happy it was enough for the podium today. The stadium was pretty full today, it feels great to jump in front of such a crowd", said Bogataj.
Sara Takanashi was fourth and missed the podium by 2.1 points, Chiara Hoelzl was the best Austrian in fifth.
Juliane Seyfarth finished sixth, Carina Vogt eighth. Ramona Straub was third after the first round, then she had a bad final jump but the German could still finish on a good ninth place.
With 1268 points, Maren Lundby leads the overall World Cup, followed by Katharina Althaus (1023 points) and Sara Takanashi (856 points).
The second competition on the HS 137 large hill in Oberstdorf starts on Sunday at 1 pm CET.
The Nordic World Ski Championships in Seefeld start next week. There the ladies will have a total of three medal events: The individual, the team and the mixed team event.
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