Japanese trio takes it all in Willingen

Japanese holiday in Willingen: Yuki Ito (137 and 135.5 m; 233.3 p.),  Nozomi Maruyama (133 and 136.5 m; 229 p.) and Sara Takanashi (137.5 and 133 m; 222.6 p.) from Japan took the podium during Sunday's competition in Willingen.

"I'm so happy! The conditions were really not easy, but my approach was very good and the jumps were. I've been waiting and working towards this moment for a very long time, so it feels great," Ito said after jumping, referring to her last victory in Oslo in March 2017. For Maruyama, it was even the first podium of her career, in which she left the third Abigail Strate from Canada behind her in the final.

Chiara Kreuzer was again the best Austrian in fifth place and was also the only jumper from Austria in the top ten. Sixth and once again best Slovenian was Ema Klinec, ahead of Selina Freitag and previous day's winner Katharina Althaus, who took two top ten places for Germany. And also highlighted Pauline Heßler, who finished twelfth. Luisa Görlich and Anna Rupprecht also finished 18th and 19th in the top 20, Juliane Seyfarth was 23rd.

Meanwhile, Josephine Pagnier, the best French woman, ended up in the top ten in ninth place, and a fourth Japanese woman, Yuka Seto, in tenth place. Silje Opseth, who was eleventh best Norwegian, and Jacqueline Seifriedsberger with 17th place. Hannah Wiegele achieved the best career result with 15th place, while Eva Pinkelnig was 13th.

Jenny Rautionaho would have taken the lead in the first round with her jump of 128.5 meters, but she suffered a serious fall when landing on the sodden landing slope. She had to be rescued first and then carried away on a stretcher. Previously, Katra Komar and Maren Lundby had also fallen or tripped in the outrun. The fact that Rautionaho's points were still enough for 29th place was a side note. For Natalie Eilers (Canada), who landed behind her, it was the first World Cup point of the current season.

The Slovenian Maja Vtic was disqualified because her suit was too big, so only 34 jumpers were classified. The prologue, which should have replaced the qualification before the competition, was canceled "for technical reasons", as the FIS announced.