Seifriedsberger wins in Willingen
Feb 03, 2024·Ski Jumping
Austria's Jacqueline Seifriedsberger won the first of two Ski Jumping World Cups in Willingen (GER) on Saturday. The 33-year-old came out on top ahead of Sara Takanashi from Japan and Katharina Schmid from Germany.
There was definitely no beauty prize to be won at the Women's Ski Jumping World Cup in Willingen on Saturday. Constant rain and shifting winds made for extremely difficult conditions. However, Jacqueline Seifriedsberger was just as unimpressed by the external conditions as she was by the deteriorating inrun track:
"Of course it was a difficult competition today, and certainly not entirely fair for everyone. But on a day like this, you just need that little bit of luck. But I have to say, the organizers did a great job that we were able to have a second run at all. You could feel the problems in the inrun track, but it was definitely jumpable. That's really cool, I can't really realize it yet. It really took a load off my mind that I got the second jump down like that today, I was already leading in Oberstdorf and then it didnt work out in the final. Today it worked out and that's really cool," explained Jacqueline Seifriedsberger, for whom it was the second World Cup victory of her career after an 11-year break.
The Austrian celebrated her first victory in Sapporo (JPN) in 2013.
Katharina Schmid was delighted with her third place: "I'm super happy and absolutely delighted that I was able to jump onto the podium again here in front of my home crowd. With a season like this, third place almost feels like a victory," explained Schmid, for whom the winter so far has not gone according to plan. Schmid is the best DSV athlete in 12th place in the overall World Cup.
The competition day did not go according to plan for some of the top athletes: Nika Prevc (15th place), Eva Pinkelnig (13th) and Nika Kriznar (9th) struggled with the conditions and finished far below expectations.
However, Nika Prevc (869 points) continues to lead the overall World Cup ahead of Yuki Ito (711 points / 8th place today) and Eva Pinkelnig.
The second Women's Ski Jumping World Cup in Willingen this weekend starts on Sunday at 11:15.
