Ladies’ Bronze, Men’s Gold, Gold in both ladies and men team competitions of the Junior World Championships in Liberec and eventually Robert Kranjec’s ski flying World Cup win in Vikersund made it a very special week for Slovenian fans. Adding to that Gregor Schlierenzauer’s 46th World Cup win and the fact that the young athlete equalled the result of Matti Nykaenen, the most successful ski jumper in the history of the discipline, presents how exciting this last sporting weekend was.
Both competitions in Norway revolved around problems with wind and quite heavy snowfall, what made it hard for the athletes not only to fully enjoy the experience of longer flights, but also to get satisfying results for some of them. Despite organizers assurances of a possibility of breaking the World Record in jumping distance, there was no chance of achieving it in these weather conditions.
However, the jumpers did not disappoint the crowds in this season’s first ski flying event. Schlierenzauer ‘s decision of not taking part in last weekend’s competitions in Sapporo totally paid off, as the Austrian dominated Saturday’s evening by winning with his jumps on 216.5m and 240m (the longest jump of the day). This was also a very special win, which finally equalled his number of World Cup victories with Nykaenen’s.
This is how Schlieri celebrated his success with his teammates and coaches – the video posted on Skijumping Austria Facebook:
The second place fell to the four-times Olympic Games winner Simon Ammann. The jumper from Switzerland delivered two stable jumps on 215.5m and 229.5m falling just 0.5 points behind Schlierenzauer. Slovak Robert Kranjec, the winner of the last Ski Flying World Championships on the same hill, grabbed the last spot on the podium with his jumps on 212m and 232.5m, 1.1 points behind the Austrian and 0.6 points behind Ammann.
This was a very closely fought competition, especially between the first five jumpers around the podium area. Norwegian Andreas Stjernen (215.5m and 232.5m) missed the podium by just 0.4 points, while Polish Kamil Stoch (213.5m and 232.5m) fell 3.4 points behind him on the 5th place.
On the second day of the ski jumping World Cup in Vikersund everyone’s gaze was turned on Gregor Schlierenzauer, as his win that day would have put him in the first place of the all-times World Cup victories classification. However, it was Robert Kranjec, current ski flying World Champion, who dominated the whole event by collecting 416.5 points and staying on the first place after both rounds. Kranjec finished the great Slovenian week with his regular jumps on 231.5m (the longest jump of the day) and 230m.
Silver went to German Michael Neumayer who delivered some fantastic jumps on 223m and 231m (405.5 points) , while Schlierenzauer grabbed Bronze jumping on 223m and 231m this time. As the competition was not as fierce as during the first day, points differences between the jumpers were not as close. Neumayer missed the first place by 11 points, while the Austrian by 16.5 points.
Simon Ammann, second on the first day, this time missed the podium landing on the 4th place (216m and 222.5m; 393.6 points). Teammates Jurij Tepes and Peter Prevc took the joint 5th place collecting 390.4 points. Previously 5th Kamil Stoch finished 7th this time, while Andreas Stjernen landed on the 8th place.
The next weekend in Harrachov gives the athletes not only a chance to improve their ski flying abilities, but also presents the last opportunity for testing the hill before next season‘s Ski Flying World Championships.
