Marita Kramer surprising winner in Sapporo
Jan 11, 2020·Ski Jumping
18-year-old Austrian Marita Kramer surprisingly won the first of the two World Cups in Sapporo (JPN). Kramer jumped on 131 m and 135 m (279.6 points) on the HS 137 Okurayama hill in Sapporo and took a clear win ahead of Norway's Maren Lundby (127 m and 139 m; 275.0 points) and Eva Pinkelnig (127.5 m and 134 m; 271.1 points).
For Kramer, this was her maiden win in the World Cup and the by far a career-best for her career as the ninth and 10th place in Lillehammer 2019 were her best results so far. "I still can’t believe it. I didn’t expect to win, but I had a good feeling at the hill", said Kramer, for whom this was the first-ever competition in Sapporo. "I showed two good jumps. For tomorrow I will try to repeat this. It's my first time in Sapporo and I really enjoy jumping here."
Third-placed Eva Pinkelnid explained after the competition: "I’m really happy, last time in Sapporo I was 4th and this year I could make it to the podium. My teammate won and I will hear the national anthem. Our goal was to beat Maren, we already did that twice this winter."
With Daniela Iraschko-Stolz (5th) and Chiara Hoelzl (6th), two more Austrians were in the Top 6 today, an outstanding result for the team of head coach Harry Rodlauer.
Maren Lundby, the overall World Cup leader, was satisfied with her second place: "I’m satisfied with this result, it was a great competition for the Austrian team. I made two good jumps here and I hope I will jump even better tomorrow."
Local hero Sara Takanashi narrowly missed the podium in fourth, Katharina Althaus was the best German in seventh. Luisa Goerlich was tenth, Svenja Wuerth 20th, Selina Freitag 27th and Agnes Reisch 29th. Best Slovene was Nika Kriznar in eighth.
Poland's Kinga Rajda, trained by Lukasz Kruczek, achieved the best result of her career in 21st. Russia's Irina Avvakumova finished tenth, but was disqualified after the competition because her suit did not meet the rules and so her teammate Sofia Tikhonova moved up to tenth (ex aequo with Luisa Goerlich).
Maren Lundby leads the overall World Cup with now 325 points, followed by the two Austrians Chiara Hoelzl (280 points) and Eva Pinkelnig (209 points). Marita Kramer is currently seventh (171 points), best German is Katharina Althaus in sixth (176 points).
Personal information: Marita Kramer:
Sara Marita Kramer; Bron on October 25th, 2001 in Apeldoorn (NED); She goes by Sara, Marita is in her birth certificate. In 2008, she moved to Maria Alm in Austria with her family and she currently holds dual citizenship. She has two official results in Nordic Combined in the Alpen Cup, but she is now a special ski jumper. Her two years younger sister Femke Kramer is a biathlete and currently competing in the Youth Olympic Games in Lausanne (SUI).
The second competition in Sapporo starts on Sunday at 2 am CET.
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