Sport News
World Champion Norway wins also in Lahti
Norway won the team competition in Lahti (FIN). Six days after their triumph at the World Championships, Anders Bardal, Anders Jacobsen, Anders Fannemel and individual World Champion Rune Velta took a clear win ahead of Germany and Japan.
Anders Bardal laid the foundation for the Norwegian victory in both rounds with jumps on 127.5 m and 129 m. Anders Fannemel showed a strong jump on 127.5 m in the final, Anders Jacobsen had his best jump with 124.5 m. Just like at the World Championships Rune Velta secured the win as the final jumper with 123 m. The team scored a total of 1069.1 points. Anders Bardal said afterwards: “It was a good day for us. We had eight solid jumps and that was enough to win. It's good that we could have the competition today, it was pretty windy at the hill, but the competition was surprisingly good and exciting.”
Freund and Eisenbichler with problems at the landing
The German team made amends for missing a medal in Falun. Richard Freitag posted solid jumps on 123.5 m and 124 m. Marinus Kraus, who replaced Michael Neumayer on the team, showed a consistent performance with 121 m and 120.5 m. Markus Eisenbichler had some bad luck when he touched the snow with his hands after the landing of his final jump on 122.5 m. Also Severin Freund had some problems with the landing in the first round, but still he gained self confidence for the individual competition on Sunday with 127.5 m and 125 m. At the end the German team missed the win clearly by 28.9 points.
Richard Freitag said: "I think it would have been difficult to be in front of Norway today because their jumps were really good. We did well too, but I think 29 points is a lot. Overall it was a nice competition. When we saw the wind conditions right before the event, we didn't expect that ski jumping would be possible. Lahti did a good job to shield the hill from the wind. Congratulations. My jumps were okay, but not good enough to beat Anders. They were not my best ones and there's room for improvement for tomorrow. But I'm looking forward to it and hopefully we can have another competition.”
Japanese get strength from Sushi
Also the Japanese team found revenge for their disappointing fourth place in Falun. Once again Noriaki Kasai was their outstanding jumper with 125.5 m and 126 m. Daiki Ito could do even better than the veteran in the final round with 128 m. Taku Takeuchi made amends for a bad first jump with 123.5 m in the final. Shohei Tochimoto could not keep up with his teammates, but he also played his part in secured the third place with 1031.7 points. Noriaki Kasai said later: “It's a happy day for us and we are very satisfied. After Falun we were tired, but we stayed in Helsinki for three days and went to a Japanese restaurant. That gave us power for today. The Finnish Sushi was good, but not as good as in Japan."
Zyla best Pole
The Polish team missed a podium result by 12.3 points. The Poles lost the important points with the second jumps of Jan Ziobro on 112.5 m and Kamil Stoch on 119 m. On the other hand Piotr Zyla could show a very good performance with 124 m and 128 m, Klemens Muranka also had a good final jump with 123.5 m.
Poppinger lost the chances
Behind Poland, Austria could not fight for the top positions this time. Manuel Poppinger landed already at 92 m in the first round. Gregor Schlierenzauer, with good jumps on 123.5 m and 124 m, and Michael Hayboeck, with strong 126 m in the final, could not close the gap to the best. Stefan Kraft had an outstanding jump on 131 m in the first round, in the final he jumped on 120.5 m. Austria scored a total of 1010.1 points.
Another disappointment for Slovenia
Slovenia, with Peter Prevc, Jurij Tepes, Nejc Dezman and Jernej Damjan, scored 1001.6 points and came in on a disappointing sixth place. Only Peter Prevc was strong today with 124 m and 129.5 m. The Czech Team, with Roman Koudelka, Jan Matura, Antonin Hajek and Jakub Janda, finished seventh with 917.6 points. The Russians Ilmir Hazetdinov, Denis Kornilov, Mikhail Maksimochkin and Dimitry Vassiliev were eighth with 859.0 points.
The teams of Finland, France, Korea and the USA could not qualify for the final round.
The individual competition in Lahti will be held on Sunday at 2:00 pm CET.
Anders Bardal laid the foundation for the Norwegian victory in both rounds with jumps on 127.5 m and 129 m. Anders Fannemel showed a strong jump on 127.5 m in the final, Anders Jacobsen had his best jump with 124.5 m. Just like at the World Championships Rune Velta secured the win as the final jumper with 123 m. The team scored a total of 1069.1 points. Anders Bardal said afterwards: “It was a good day for us. We had eight solid jumps and that was enough to win. It's good that we could have the competition today, it was pretty windy at the hill, but the competition was surprisingly good and exciting.”
Freund and Eisenbichler with problems at the landing
The German team made amends for missing a medal in Falun. Richard Freitag posted solid jumps on 123.5 m and 124 m. Marinus Kraus, who replaced Michael Neumayer on the team, showed a consistent performance with 121 m and 120.5 m. Markus Eisenbichler had some bad luck when he touched the snow with his hands after the landing of his final jump on 122.5 m. Also Severin Freund had some problems with the landing in the first round, but still he gained self confidence for the individual competition on Sunday with 127.5 m and 125 m. At the end the German team missed the win clearly by 28.9 points.
Richard Freitag said: "I think it would have been difficult to be in front of Norway today because their jumps were really good. We did well too, but I think 29 points is a lot. Overall it was a nice competition. When we saw the wind conditions right before the event, we didn't expect that ski jumping would be possible. Lahti did a good job to shield the hill from the wind. Congratulations. My jumps were okay, but not good enough to beat Anders. They were not my best ones and there's room for improvement for tomorrow. But I'm looking forward to it and hopefully we can have another competition.”
Japanese get strength from Sushi
Also the Japanese team found revenge for their disappointing fourth place in Falun. Once again Noriaki Kasai was their outstanding jumper with 125.5 m and 126 m. Daiki Ito could do even better than the veteran in the final round with 128 m. Taku Takeuchi made amends for a bad first jump with 123.5 m in the final. Shohei Tochimoto could not keep up with his teammates, but he also played his part in secured the third place with 1031.7 points. Noriaki Kasai said later: “It's a happy day for us and we are very satisfied. After Falun we were tired, but we stayed in Helsinki for three days and went to a Japanese restaurant. That gave us power for today. The Finnish Sushi was good, but not as good as in Japan."
Zyla best Pole
The Polish team missed a podium result by 12.3 points. The Poles lost the important points with the second jumps of Jan Ziobro on 112.5 m and Kamil Stoch on 119 m. On the other hand Piotr Zyla could show a very good performance with 124 m and 128 m, Klemens Muranka also had a good final jump with 123.5 m.
Poppinger lost the chances
Behind Poland, Austria could not fight for the top positions this time. Manuel Poppinger landed already at 92 m in the first round. Gregor Schlierenzauer, with good jumps on 123.5 m and 124 m, and Michael Hayboeck, with strong 126 m in the final, could not close the gap to the best. Stefan Kraft had an outstanding jump on 131 m in the first round, in the final he jumped on 120.5 m. Austria scored a total of 1010.1 points.
Another disappointment for Slovenia
Slovenia, with Peter Prevc, Jurij Tepes, Nejc Dezman and Jernej Damjan, scored 1001.6 points and came in on a disappointing sixth place. Only Peter Prevc was strong today with 124 m and 129.5 m. The Czech Team, with Roman Koudelka, Jan Matura, Antonin Hajek and Jakub Janda, finished seventh with 917.6 points. The Russians Ilmir Hazetdinov, Denis Kornilov, Mikhail Maksimochkin and Dimitry Vassiliev were eighth with 859.0 points.
The teams of Finland, France, Korea and the USA could not qualify for the final round.
The individual competition in Lahti will be held on Sunday at 2:00 pm CET.
Source: fis-ski.com
