Germany’s Freitag and Reisch claim victory in women’s Super Team event after dramatic final round

Selina Freitag and Agnes Reisch (GER) claimed a last-minute victory in the Women’s Super Team event in Zao, Japan, on Saturday. The final came down to the wire and ended with a dramatic twist when Norway’s Eirin Maria Kvandal crashed on the landing of her final jump. The Germans pulled ahead to finish 4.2 points clear of Kvandal and Thea Minyan Bjoerseth (NOR), who had led the standings for a long time.

A combined total of 647.4 points brought Freitag and Reisch to the top of the leaderboard, with Norway in second with 643.2 points. Eva Pinkelnig and Jacqueline Seifriedsberger (AUT) landed in third, just 0.1 points behind the Norwegians.

“I’m really happy, I did not expect the win today”, Freitag said afterward. “We wanted to show good jumps and have fun, so we’re really lucky we won.”

With the victory, Reisch stood on top of a World Cup podium for the first time in her career. “I feel great”, Reisch said. “It’s amazing. I feel better from week to week and would love to jump every day to improve myself (even more).”

Freitag and Reisch were in second up until the very final jump of the day, while the Norwegian duo looked on their way to a certain victory.

Norwegians lose advantage after crash in final jump

The Super Team event is a relatively new event where two athletes compete together. Both perform one jump in each round. After the first round, the top twelve teams qualify for the second round, while the top eight then make it to the third and final round.

In the first round, Bjoerseth kicked things off steadily for Norway with a strong first jump (99.2) and Kvandal followed suit (115.5) for a total of 214.7 points.

Bjoerseth and Kvandal had a 0.8 point lead over Germany after the first round and 4.4 points over last year’s winners Slovenia.

The Norwegians further extended that lead in the second round with two strong performances (101.5 for Bjoerseth and 115.4 for Kvandal).

Heading into the third and final round, the duo had a 7.6 point lead over Freitag and Reisch, while Austria moved up to third, just 0.2 points behind Germany.

With just the final round to go, the Norwagian duo looked well on their way to victory as Bjoerseth posted 110.6 points to put the pressure on their rivals in round three.

Germany's Reisch held her nerve and answered with 113.5 points, with Kvandal left to go.

Kvandal impressed with a 102.5m distance jump (the furthest jump of the day), but messed up on her landing.

Although Kvandal escaped physically unscathed, she only received 26 points for her posture and received a total of 101.0 points , which ultimately cost her and Bjoerseth the victory. "Of course, the last jump was very unfortunate", Kvandal said. "Luckily, physically, I am fine and ready for tomorrow."

Third place for 'Team Grannies'

With Germany and Norway in first and second, Austria's Pinkelnig and Seifriedsberger completed the podium with third place.

The Austrians, the oldest duo in the competition and who therefore call themselves 'Team Grannies', were happy about the result. "This podium place wasn't just there for the taking", Pinkelnig said. "You can see there are some teams that jump really well. We are the oldest ones here. Our plan was to fight for the podium against the younger ones", she laughed.

Next up...

Competition in Zao (JPN) continues on Sunday with another individual competition.

Friday's individual winner Nika Prevc (SLO) is among the favorites on Sunday as she aims to further extend her lead in the World Cup ranking.

While the women compete in Japan, the men take the hill in Oberstdorf, Germany, for their first Ski Flying World Cup weekend of the season. Individual events are scheduled for both Saturday and Sunday.