With the year 2016 slowly approaching its end we want to look back on some facts and highlights in Ladies Ski Jumping in 2016. Ofcourse, the outstanding athlete was once again Sara Takanashi.

Takanashi leading Japan to the Top
The Japanese took 15 wins and 17 podiums over all. Both are records of the year. Takanashi missed out on the podium only once, in Ljubno in February. She also performed the win with the biggest advantage: 26,8 points in Oberstdorf – on a Normal Hill. Takanashi also made team Japan the most successful one of the year 2016. Teammate Yuki Ito added two second and a third places which makes a total of 20 podiums for the team and exactly one more than the Austrian team could achieve. Which leads us to the second most outstanding nation in Ladies Ski Jumping.

Iraschko-Stolz and Austria
With Daniela Iraschko-Stolz leading the way, one victory, 10 second places (all by Iraschko-Stolz) and 8 third places have been achieved. Even more: Austria is the clear leader in 4th places. 10 times they just missed out on the podium. Also the Slovenian ladies can look back on a great year 2016. In February Maja Vtic made the dream of the victory on home ground in Ljubno come true. On top of that, another 4 second places and six times the third spot on the podium made it to the statistics.

Lundby saves the best for the end
Maren Lundby led the Norwegians all by herself to fourth place of our ranking. A second place in Oslo and twice place three. The real highlight came up in December in Nizhny Tagil: Lundby´s first World Cup victory. One of the only three times this year, that Sara Takanashi has been beaten. Russia and Germany achieved each one third place by Irina Avvakumova and Anna Rupprecht.

Remarkable:
- All in all six nations and 12 different athletes took part in the victory ceremonies in 2016. 
- Sara Takanashi not only took the clear win in the World Cup overall ranking. In January she won all four competitions on home ground in Sapporo and Zao. 
- Maja Vtic and Maren Lundby celebrated their first World Cup victories in 2016 
- Little Planica: Located only one hour from the famous Ski Flying hill, Ljubno meanwhile became one of the most crowded places in Ladies Ski Jumping. Thousands of spectators cheered Maja Vtic to her first World Cup victories 
- A year to forget: Team Germany achieved only one podium in 2016 in Lillehammer in December by Anna Rupprecht. Only one week later Rupprecht suffered an ACL rupture and can´t compete this season anymore 
- Promising: Team France seems to have done a lot of things right in working with their youngest athletes. With 15 year old Lucile Morat already jumping in the World Cup and finishing 6th at the last competition of the year in Nizhny Tagil also the one year younger Josephine Pagnier is on her way to the highest level. After winning both Continental Cups in Notodden she can be expected to compete in the World Cup soon. With Vincent Descombes-Sevoie in a decent shape even a medal in the Mixed Competition at the World Championships in Lahti in February could become more than just a dream.

Source: fis-ski.com