Sara Takanashi wins women's GP-opener
Jul 26, 2019·Ski Jumping
Japan's Sara Takanashi won the FIS Grand Prix in Hinterzarten on Friday evening with jumps of 98 m and 100 m (255.7 points). The 56-time World Cup winner came in ahead of Maren Lundby of Norway (251.7 points) and Slovenia's Nika Kriznar (245.9 points).
For Takanashi, who had also won last year's Grand Prix in Hinterzarten, this was the 24th win in the GP. The 22-year-old also posted the longest jump of the day with 100 m. The women's training and competition took place in extreme temperatures of about 34°C.
"It was not easy today due to these extremely high temperatures. I had to drink a lot of water and also took some special vitamins, that's why I was strong today. I'm feeling really good now", Takanashi said after the sweaty competition.
Maren Lundby was also struggling with the temperatures: "I took a cold shower between the qualification and the competition, that helped me to cool down. Now I'm really looking forward to the mixed team event tomorrow. This is always very exciting for fans and athletes."
Third-placed Nika Kriznar was happy about her strong result: "This is a great day for me, I didn't expect such a top result. Now I'm very excited about the mixed team event, even if we are not sure what will be possible for us as a team."
Slovenia's Ursa Bogataj and Nozomi Maruyama of Japan finished fourth and fifth. Agnes Reisch came in sixth and was the best of the Germans. Reisch could significantly improve her performance over the last couple of months and so the 19-year-old will probably achieve more top results in the future. Juliane Seyfarth was third after the first round, but then lost some ground in the final and came in eighth overall. Katharina Althaus was tenth.
The GP continues for the women with the mixed team event tomorrow, the next individual competition will be held in Courchevel (FRA) in two weeks.
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