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Norway dominates team competition
The Norwegian ski jumpers won the team competition at the World Championships in Falun. With 872.6 points Anders Jacobsen, Anders Fannemel, Anders Bardal and Rune Velta took a clear win ahead of Austria and Poland. For Norway this was the first title in a team event since 1993. Olympic Champion Germany finished only fifth, behind Japan.
Norway was behind Austria only after the very first jump when Stefan Kraft jumped on 131.5 m. With jumps on 125 m and 123 m Anders Jacobsen showed a solid performance, like Anders Bardal, who landed at 125 m and 125.5 m. World record holder Anders Fannemel jumped on 126.5 m and 127.5 m, final jumper Rune Velta, who already won gold on the normal hill and bronze on the large hill, secured the win with 124 m and 121 m.
Schlierenzauer secures silver
The Austrians were in an exciting fight for the second place and could get ahead of Poland with the final jump. After his great first jump, Kraft landed at 126.5 m in the final, Michael Hayboeck jumped on 124.5 m and 122 m. Manuel Poppinger had a bad first jump with 115.5 m, but in the final round he showed his best jump at the Championships with 129.5 m. Gregor Schlierenzauer, second on the large hill, was struggling a bit in the first round with 119m. In the final he secured silver with 129 m. The Austrians scored a total of 853.2 points. Norway ended the winning streak of Austria in this competition. Until today the team was undefeated in Championships since 2003.
Poland defends bronze
Thanks to Piotr Zyla, who had two jumps on 123 m, Poland had a good start in both rounds. Klemens Muranka proved his good shape with 120.5 m and strong 128 m. Jan Ziobro showed that he deserved his spot on the team with 125.5 m in the final, after he jumped only on 116 m in the first round. Double Olympic Champion Kamil Stoch had a strong start with 129.5 m in the first round, 126 m in the final were not enough to come in ahead of Austria. At the end the team was 5.1 points behind the second place. Like in Val di Fiemme 2013, Poland won bronze again.
No medal for Japan
Like during the whole WSC, the Japanese were also not in their top shape today. Only Taku Takeuchi could show a very good performance with 126 m and 128 m. Noriaki Kasai lost ground in the final with only 122 m, Daiki Ito and Junshiro Kobayashi would have had to exceed the expectations in order to fight for the medals. With 831.2 points they came in 16.9 points behind the third place.
Bad day for Germany
It was a pretty bad day for Germany. Veteran Michael Neumayer, the first jumper of the team, lost the chance to win a medal with his jumps on 118 m and 119 m. But also Markus Eisenbichler and Richard Freitag could not take advantage of the positive spirit within the team at this successful Championships. Severin Freund, who crowned himself World Champion on the large hill with a hill record on Thursday, ended the days in Falun with a highlight. 143 m. But he touched the snow with his hands after the landing and so his hill record will remain at 135.5 m. With 809.2 points Germany was far away from the gold today.
No success for Slovenia
The Slovenian team, with Jurij Tepes, Jernej Damjan, Nejc Dezman and Peter Prevc, could not show an upward trend at the end of this disappointing Championships. Also a strong final jump on 133 m by Peter Prevc could not save the day for the team (797.5 points). Russia, with Dimitry Vassiliev, Mikhail Maksimochkin, Ilmir Hazetdinov and Denis Kornilov, qualified for the final and was not last there with 703.5 points – a success for the team. The eighth place went to the Czech Republic with Roman Koudelka, Jakub Janda, Jan Matura and Lukas Hlava with 692.0 points.
The teams of Finland, Switzerland, Korea, Italy and Sweden failed to make the cut for the final round.
Source: fis-ski.com
Norway was behind Austria only after the very first jump when Stefan Kraft jumped on 131.5 m. With jumps on 125 m and 123 m Anders Jacobsen showed a solid performance, like Anders Bardal, who landed at 125 m and 125.5 m. World record holder Anders Fannemel jumped on 126.5 m and 127.5 m, final jumper Rune Velta, who already won gold on the normal hill and bronze on the large hill, secured the win with 124 m and 121 m.
Schlierenzauer secures silver
The Austrians were in an exciting fight for the second place and could get ahead of Poland with the final jump. After his great first jump, Kraft landed at 126.5 m in the final, Michael Hayboeck jumped on 124.5 m and 122 m. Manuel Poppinger had a bad first jump with 115.5 m, but in the final round he showed his best jump at the Championships with 129.5 m. Gregor Schlierenzauer, second on the large hill, was struggling a bit in the first round with 119m. In the final he secured silver with 129 m. The Austrians scored a total of 853.2 points. Norway ended the winning streak of Austria in this competition. Until today the team was undefeated in Championships since 2003.
Poland defends bronze
Thanks to Piotr Zyla, who had two jumps on 123 m, Poland had a good start in both rounds. Klemens Muranka proved his good shape with 120.5 m and strong 128 m. Jan Ziobro showed that he deserved his spot on the team with 125.5 m in the final, after he jumped only on 116 m in the first round. Double Olympic Champion Kamil Stoch had a strong start with 129.5 m in the first round, 126 m in the final were not enough to come in ahead of Austria. At the end the team was 5.1 points behind the second place. Like in Val di Fiemme 2013, Poland won bronze again.
No medal for Japan
Like during the whole WSC, the Japanese were also not in their top shape today. Only Taku Takeuchi could show a very good performance with 126 m and 128 m. Noriaki Kasai lost ground in the final with only 122 m, Daiki Ito and Junshiro Kobayashi would have had to exceed the expectations in order to fight for the medals. With 831.2 points they came in 16.9 points behind the third place.
Bad day for Germany
It was a pretty bad day for Germany. Veteran Michael Neumayer, the first jumper of the team, lost the chance to win a medal with his jumps on 118 m and 119 m. But also Markus Eisenbichler and Richard Freitag could not take advantage of the positive spirit within the team at this successful Championships. Severin Freund, who crowned himself World Champion on the large hill with a hill record on Thursday, ended the days in Falun with a highlight. 143 m. But he touched the snow with his hands after the landing and so his hill record will remain at 135.5 m. With 809.2 points Germany was far away from the gold today.
No success for Slovenia
The Slovenian team, with Jurij Tepes, Jernej Damjan, Nejc Dezman and Peter Prevc, could not show an upward trend at the end of this disappointing Championships. Also a strong final jump on 133 m by Peter Prevc could not save the day for the team (797.5 points). Russia, with Dimitry Vassiliev, Mikhail Maksimochkin, Ilmir Hazetdinov and Denis Kornilov, qualified for the final and was not last there with 703.5 points – a success for the team. The eighth place went to the Czech Republic with Roman Koudelka, Jakub Janda, Jan Matura and Lukas Hlava with 692.0 points.
The teams of Finland, Switzerland, Korea, Italy and Sweden failed to make the cut for the final round.
Source: fis-ski.com
