Clear win for Norwegian mixed team
Feb 20, 2021·Ski Jumping
The Norwegian Ski Jumping team won the mixed team competition on Saturday in Rasnov. Maren Lundby, Daniel Andre Tande, Silje Opseth, and Halvor Egner Granerud took a clear win ahead of Slovenia and Austria.
The mixed team competition will definitely be a highlight of the Nordic World Championships starting next week in Oberstdorf. These events, in which teams consist of two women and two men, are always exciting and sometimes provide surprising results.
In the final competition before the WSC today, the team of Norway took the win. The Norwegian were all jumping on a high level, Halvor Egner Granerud, who was disqualified in Friday's individual competition, once again showed an outstanding performance. Maren Lundby, for whom this winter is not going the way she had wished, also posted strong jumps today and said after the competition: "It feels really good to be back on top of the podium, especially as it has been a while for me since the last time. I really enjoy jumping in mixed team events, so I hope this was a good preparation for the World Championships. Two years ago in Seefeld, we won the bronze medal, so maybe we can do even better this time."
The team of Slovenia was always following on the heels of the Norwegians. Considering that Ziga Jelar did clearly not have his best day today and the two best Slovenes, Anze Lanisek and Bor Pavlovcic, were not competing in Rasnov, Slovenia has to be reckoned with in the fight for gold at the WSC. Besides the two top women, Nika Kriznar and Ema Klinec, Cene Prevc presented himself strong as well. "I am extremely happy with our jumping today. The whole team did a great job, we fought until the end and made really good jumps so we can be happy", said Cene Prevc.
The Austrian team, that had to do without Marita Kramer, came in third today, with a spectacular performance of veteran Manuel Fettner. With his jumps on the normal hill this weekend, he might get head coach Andreas Widhoelzl to rethink his nominations for the World Championships. Up-and-comer Daniel Tschofenig did a good jump as well today in the Austrian team. "Jumping in a mixed team event feels completely different than in an individual competition, you have the whole team behind you, we all gave our best today. I hope I was able to show my best jumps today, this is my first World Cup podium so I am extremely happy. I am really proud to be part of this team", said Tschofenig.
With Kramer and Kraft back on their team, the Austrians can also win gold in Oberstdorf, it will be an exciting event. Japan, with Sara Takanashi and Ryoyu Kobayashi, who both won individual competitions this weekend, came in fourth, only 3.8 points behind Austria.
Germany, without Markus Eisenbichler on the team, finished fifth. Without Eisenbichler and the best German women around Katharina Althaus, who are on a training camp right now, this might not have that much significance, but finishing about 50 points behind Japan and only 14.6 points ahead of Russia is still not a good result.
The teams of Poland and France came in seventh and eighth.
Many teams already travel to Oberstdorf on Monday, the first women's training of the Nordic World Championships is scheduled for Tuesday.
