COC-W: Japanese sweep in Lillehammer
Sep 14, 2019·Ski Jumping
The ski jumpers of Japan proved to be unbeatable in the first women's Continental Cup competition this weekend in Lillehammer (NOR).
In her first appearance in the COC since August 2015, Sara Takanashi once again presented herself in a strong shape this summer. With jumps of 101 m and 94 m, she was by far the best in both rounds and took a clear win with 269.9 points. This was the seventh win in the Continental Cup for the 22-year-old. "I'm happy about my win today. It's a good practice before the winter. I've been in the women's training camp all week, but I need a bit more training before the season starts", said Takanashi.
The second and third place today went to Takanashi's teammates Yuki Ito and Nozomi Maruyama. Yuki Ito secured the second place with her jumps of 98 m and 95 m and 237.6 points, Maruyama came in third with 95 m and 92.5 m and 222.6 points.
"I was worried before today's competition because my training jumps have not been so good. My jumping is getting better and better", told Yuki Ito, and her teammate Nozomi Maruyama added: "It was windy, so it was very difficult, but I like Lillehammer and this hill"
Clearly behind the Top 3, Karolina Indrackova of the Czech Republic was fourth, Josephine Pagnier of France finished fifth.
US American Sara Hendrickson competed against an international field today for the first time since about one and a half years. In her first competition since March 2018 the former overall World Cup winner and 2013 World Champion landed on the good sixth place.
The seventh place went to the best German today, Selina Freitag, Russia's Ksenia Kablukova, Kaori Iwabuchi of Japan and Lucile Morat of France followed in eighth, ninth and tenth.
Young Norwegian Gyda Westvold Hansen remains in the lead of the overall ranking with 222 points, ahead of Marita Kramer of Austria (200 points) and Karolina Indrackova (150 points).
The second women's competition in Lillehammer starts on Sunday at 11 am CET.
Update: Sunday's competition was canceled due to the strong wind.
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