COC-M: 1-2 finish for Austria in this winter's first competition
Dec 18, 2020·Ski Jumping
With three competitions in Ruka, in the far north of Finland, the Continental Cup starts its 2020/21 season this weekend. The first win this winter on Friday evening went to Austria's Stefan Rainer.
In difficult and changing wind conditions on the Rukatunturi-hill, the 21-year-old showed two consistent jumps of 134 m and 138.5 m and claimed the first win of his career in the Continental Cup with a total of 276.9 points. The best result of the Austrian so far was the fifth place in Wisla in September. "The hill is very cool, I love it here. It's my first victory in COC, I'm speechless. Tomorrow's conditions seem pretty good. I will do my best to achieve a good result tomorrow", said the Austrian.
His teammate Jan Hoerl posted the outstanding jump of the day with his 150 m in the first round. He even landed 2.5 m beyond the official hill record but was still only second behind Rainer after the first round due to the longer inrun and better conditions. He then defended this place with 128 m in the final round and 260.9 points.
Bendik Jakobsen Heggli surprised in third today. The 19-year-old Norwegian made it to the podium in only his third COC competition with 137 m and 124 m and 253.7 points.
Eetu Nousiainen came in on a strong fourth place and secured a top result for the hosting team of Finland. Behind him, Clemens Leitner completed the great team result of the Austrians in fifth. The best German was veteran Richard Freitag, who moved up from 14th to sixth in the second round.
The Top 10 in this season's first competition were completed by the three Poles Pawel Wasek, Tomasz Pilch, and Maciej Kot and Norway's Sondre Ringen.
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