Katharina Althaus the best again
Dec 16, 2018·Ski Jumping
Katharina Althaus was the best also in the second competition of the Ladies World Cup held in Premanon (FRA) today. With jumps of 85 and 88,5 metres (249,6 points), the German came ahead of Norway’s Maren Lundby and Japanese Sara Takanashi.
Althaus was unbeatable again although in neither rounds did she post the longest jump. Eventually, she finished with more than 14 points advantage over second-placed Norwegian claiming her seventh World Cup victory. “The competition was very good today. My first jump was a little bit late, but the second one was much better. It feels so much better when everything comes together for the competition. I´ve enjoyed the weekend here, there was a good atmosphere, and I really like the hill,” said Althaus.
Maren Lundby managed to return to the World Cup podium after being only ninth yesterday. The Norwegian posted jumps of 85,5 and 83,5 metres (235,5 points). “This was a nice competition. I´ve improved since the last competition. I still have to do some work on my technique thou. I am happy today with my result, an improvement on yesterday. I need to keep pushing harder, and the results will come,” said Lundby on today’s result.
The third place went to Japan’s Sara Takanashi, who was only fifth after the first round. In the final, the Japanese jumped 80 metres, and she managed to move up to the podium. “These weren't my best jumps. I look forward to the next competition. I will work hard to improve my results,” said Takanashi.
The seven best athletes of the first round jumped from one gate lower than the rest of the field in the final.
Slovenian Ema Klinec recorded another good result with jumps of 83 and 79 metres (233,2 points) in fourth. The fifth place went to Austria’s Daniela Iraschko-Stolz, who posted the longest jump in the first round (86 metres) and was on the way to the second podium this season. Russian Lidiia Iakovleva took the sixth place and it seems she has established herself in the World Cup Top 10 for good. The 17-year old Russian posted the longest jump of the day with 91,5 metres in the final. Eighth was again her teammate Sofia Tikhonova.
The Top 10 were completed by two more Slovenians, Nika Kriznar in seventh and Ursa Bogataj in ninth, tied with the second best Norwegian today Anna Odine Stroem.
The best of the host nation was Lucile Morat in 24th. The athlete of head coach Heinz Kuttin, Chinese Xueyao Li, scored more World Cup points in 24th.
Katharina Althaus leads the World Cup standings with 400 points. Norwegian Maren Lundby is second with 278 points. Russian Lidiia Iakovleva is still third with 262 points.
Germany lead in the Nations Cup (989 points) 408 points ahead of Slovenia (581 points) and third placed Norway (468 points).
The next ladies competition shall be held on 12th and 13th January in Sapporo (JPN).
