Profiling the Flying Ladies: File 1.1 (statistics and facts): Carina Vogt - Olympic Champion, World Champion - That's not all yet!!!

Greetings!

This is the first post in this series. It will be dedicated to Carina Vogt - thanks to her impressive results, this blog was started, and got me keen into the sport. Vogt has done a lot for the sport, first let's take a look at her basic profile.

    Carina Vogt for FIS.


Basic information:

Name: Carina Vogt
Date of birth: 5th of February, 1992 (05.02.1992)
Place of birth: Schwäbisch Gmünd, Germany
Residence: Oberstdorf, Germany
Occupation: Police officer
Relationship status: Information not available


Sports career:

Ski Club (City, Country): Ski-Club Degenfeld (Schwäbisch Gmünd, Germany)
Skis: Fischer
First FIS start (competition, position, date, location): FIS Race, 45th, 15th of August, 2005, Meinerzhagen, Germany

FIS Continental Cup:

FIS Continental Cup Debut (position, date, location): 31st, 6th of August, 2006, Kligenthal, Germany
First FIS Continental Cup points (position, date, location): 7th, 14th of January, 2007, Villach, Austria
First FIS Continental Cup podium (position, date, location): 3rd, 20th of February, 2008, Baiersbronn, Germany
First FIS Continental Cup victory (date, location): 2nd of January, 2010, Baiersbronn, Germany
Best FIS Continental Cup overall standings position (position, points, season): 8th, 441 points, 2009/2010

FIS World Cup:

FIS World Cup debut (position, date, location): 35th, 7th of January, 2012, Hinterzarten, Germany
First FIS World Cup points (position, date, location): 30th, 8th of January, 2012, Hinterzarten, Germany
First FIS World Cup podium (position, date, location): 3rd, 9th of February, 2013, Zao, Japan
First FIS World Cup victory (date, location): 18th of January, 2015, Zao, Japan
Best FIS World Cup overall standings position (position, points, season): 2nd, 806 points, 2013/2014

Junior World Championships, World Championships, Olympic Games:

FIS Ski Junior World Championships debut (position, date, location): 4th, 17th of March, 2007, Tarvisio, Italy
FIS Ski Junior World Championships medals: Bronze, individual event, 23rd of February, 2012. Erzurum, Turkey. Silver, team event, 25th of February, 2012, Erzurum, Turkey.
FIS Ski World Championships debut (position, date, location): 5th, 22nd of February, 2013, Val di Fiemme, Italy
FIS Ski World Championships medals: Gold, indiviual event, 20th of February, 2015, Falun, Sweden. Gold, mixed team event, 22nd of February, 2015, Falun, Sweden. Bronze, mixed team event, 24th of February, 2013
Olympic Games debut (position, date, location): 1st, 11th of February, 2014, Sochi, Russia
Olympic Games medals: Gold, individual event, 11th of February, 2014, Sochi, Russia

Interesting facts:

- 1st ever female Olympic Champion in Ski Jumping (2014, Sochi, Russia)
- 1st ever double female World Champion in Ski Jumping in single edition of FIS World Ski Championships (2015, Falun, Sweden)
- Has never won gold medal in German Championships, her medals in GC; Indiviual: Silver, 2009, Garmisch-Partenkirchen. Bronze, 3rd of October, 2014, Hinterzarten. Team: Silver, 3rd of August, 2008, Oberhof.
- Vogt's strength is speed just before the launch: her speed before the launch has been measured as the fastest nearly on every round. This phenomenon was already seen in 2006/2007 season, when Carina was only 14-year-old lady.
- Vogt's height is 171 centimeters (5 feet 7 inches).
- There is no available data from 2005/2006 season.
- One of the streets in Degenfeld, near the ski jump, has been named Carina-Vogt-Weg.

Tomorrow, 20th of March, 2015, I will release the third part the of file, as Carina Vogt's story will be updated, second part is published, click this to read!. Remember to check them out! Thanks for reading, and enjoy your day! :)

Links (sources and social media):
Carina Vogt's profile on fis-ski.com
Wikipedia Article about Carina Vogt (German)
Carina Vogt on Facebook
Picture of Carina Vogt

Weekend Analyses of Ladies' Ski Jumping, Championship Edition: Mixed Team Event - Second time, new winner - new analysis!!!

Greetings!

Unfortunately I didn't have much time to do this during the World Championships, so I decided to postpone this one to the time when the 2014/2015 season will be over. This also a good chance to see, how the new FLENAA-team analyses system works.

Perhaps the biggest item of news was announced even before the competition started. German' coaches, Werner Schuster and Andi Bauer decided that Carina Vogt, Richard Freitag and Severin Freund will be joined by Katharina Althaus. Juliane Seyfarth didn't agree with the choice, and 25-year-old German was frustrated. Seyfarth finished in the individual event 14th, whereas Althaus was ranked 17th. On the other hand, Althaus did impressive work on the training rounds before ladies' individual event, which was one of the factors for the outcome. Other surprise was announced by Czech Republic, as Roman Koudelka wasn't in the team's squad, probably focusing already for the large hill event.

The squads in the numeral order:

1   Italy:   Elena Runggaldier, Sebastian Colloredo, Evelyn Insam, Davide Bresadola
2   France:   Lea Lemare, Ronan Lamy Chappuis, Julia Clair, Vincent Descombes Sevoie
3   Finland:   Julia Kykkaenen, Jarkko Maeaetae, Susanna Forsstroem, Janne Ahonen
4   Russia:   Irina Avvakumova, Ilmir Hazetdinov, Sofia Tikhonova, Mikhail Maksimmochkin
5   United States of America:   Nita Englund, Nicholas Alexander, Sarah Hendrickson, William Rhoads
6   Czech Republic:   Michaela Dolezelova, Viktor Polasek, Barbora Blazkova, Jan Matura
7   Japan:   Sara Takanashi, Noriaki Kasai, Yuki Ito, Taku Takeuchi
8   Norway:   Line Jahr, Anders Bardal, Maren Lundby, Rune Velta
9   Slovenia:   Maja Vtic, Nejd Dezman, Spela Rogelj, Peter Prevc
10   Germany:   Carina Vogt, Richard Freitag, Katharina Althaus, Severin Freund
11   Austria:   Daniela Iraschko-Stolz, Michael Hayboeck, Jacqueline Seifriedsberger, Stefan Kraft

First notable fact is that the first group of the ladies is the stronger one judging by the individual competition: World Champion, bronze medalist, 4th, 11th, 12th, 13th, 19th, 23rd, 29th, 30th, 32nd were in the first group. In the third group jumped: silver medalist, 6th, 7th, 10th, 15th, 17th, 20th, 21st, 33rd, 39th and 40th.
   Training round was cancelled after the first group, which meant that assumption had to be based on the individual competitions. In ladies, Germany had 1st and 17th, Japan 2nd and 4th, Austria 3rd and 7th, Slovenia 10th and 13th, and Norway 15th and 19th. In men, Norway had 1st and 6th, Germany 2nd and 7th, Austria 3rd and 21st, Japan 5th and 35th and Slovenia 13th and 20th. The strongest candidates for the medal were Germans, Japan and Austria, but they could challenged by Norwegians and Slovenians.

FIS Ski World Championships, Mixed Team Event (22nd of February, 2015)

First round:

First round was held under cloudy skies, and the wind was towards the jumpers through the whole round. First group had already jumped during the cancelled trial round, the rest was a bit of mistery.

First group [Gate 23, Wind towards: 0.97 m/s (-6.2 points) to 2.08 m/s (-13.3 p)] :

First jump of the competition was performed by Elena Runggaldier. Italian jumped 84.0 meters (-11.4/0.0), and scored 85.6 points. Lea Lemare was the first French jumper: 82.5 meters (-7.5/0.0), and 87.0 points. Julia Kykkaenen's was important for Finland. Kykkaenen had to jump very well, so the team would have a good advantage over the teams competing against them: Kykkaenen flew 86.0 meters (-6.2/0.0), and got 96.8 points, which was enough for 8th place, last qualifying position for the second round. Irina Avvakumova took the current lead with a jump of 88.0 meters (-7.9/0.0), and total score of 99.1. Nita Englund was the first jumper to cross 90.0 meters. Englund landed at 94.0 meters (-10.7/0.0) and scored 107.3 points. According to the wind data, Michaela Dolezelova had the best conditions: she didn't capitalize it, as Czech jumper jumped 85.0 meters (-13.3/0.0). Sara Takanashi was 4th in the second important event in a row. The first jumper of the defending champions flew 96.5 meters (-11.9/0.0), and she took the lead from Englund by 4.8 points. Line Jahr was 19th in the individual competition, but Norwegian surprised everyone: 93.5 meters (-9.4/0.0) and 108.1 points brought 4th after the first group. Maja Vtic didn't do as good as Jahr: Slovenian jumped 88.5 meters (-10.3/0.0), and scored 97.7 points. World Champion from the individual event, Carina Vogt, did a good job by flying 93.5 meters (-11.3/0.0) and scoring 108.7 points. Her launch for the jump was a bit early, which didn't give Vogt longer distance. Daniela Iraschko-Stolz landed at 95.5 meters (-7.9/0.0), and scored 113.6 points. After the first group, TOP6 was: 1. Austria 113.6 points, 2. Japan 112.1 p, 3. Germany 108.7 p, 4. Norway 108.1 p, 5. United States of America 107.3 p, 6. Russia 99.1 p.

Second group [Gate 12, Wind towards: 0.45 m/s (-2.9 p) to 1.37 m/s (-8.8 p)] :

In the second group, Richard Freitag performed the best jump: 93.5 meters (-7.0/0.0), and a score of 115.0 points allowed Germans to take the lead. Anders Bardal got closest to Freitag, as Norwegian scored 111.8 points with a jump of 92.5 meters (-7.2/0.0). Noriaki Kasai kept Japanese jumpers in the World Championship fight by jumping 90.0 meters (-6.7/0.0) and scoring 105.8 points. Austrians' competition got more difficult after Michael Hayboeck's jump: he landed as early 83.0 meters (-2.9/0.0) and he scored 93.6 points, be had the worst conditions of the group. After two groups, the order of TOP6 was: 1. Germany 223.7 p, 2. Norway 219.9 p, 3. Japan 217.9 p, 4. Austria 207.2 p, 5. Slovenia 201.3 p, 6. United States of America 194.0 p.

Third group [Gate 25, Wind towards: 0.59 m/s (-3.8 p) to 2.04 m/s (-13.1 p)] :

Evelyn Insam started the second group of ladies by jumping 86.0 meters (-8.3/0.0) and scoring 94.7 points didn't help Italians as much as they hoped. Julia Clair flew 88.0 meters (-8.4/0.0) and got 100.1 points. Susanna Forsstroem couldn't help Finland, as 19-year-old jumper tried her best by flying 76.5 meters (-6.9/0.0) and scoring 72.1 points, which dropped Finland from the fight for second round. Sofia Tikhonova jumped 87.0 meters (-4.6/0.0) and got 99.9 points. Sarah Hendrickson celebrated enthusiastically after her jump: 98.5 meters (-4.2/0.0), new official ladies' hill record, and the score of 120.8 points was the best one of the whole group. Barbora Blazkova did what she could, but Czech's jump of 80.5 meters (-5.5/0.0) beat only Forsstroem's score in the group. Silver medalisr from the individual competition, Yuki Ito got the lowest minus points from wind compensation, and her jump didn't impress either: 88.5 meters (-3.8/0.0), and Ito's 101.7 points were 'only' 6th best. Maren Lundby didn't finish in TOP10 in the individual competition, but Norwegian's score of 116.4 points were 2nd best in the group: 95.0 meters (-7.1/0.0) helped to decrease the gap to Germans. Spela Rogelj flew 90.5 meters (-5.4/0.0) and scored 108.1 points. Katharina Althaus had quite a high set bar after Lundby's jump: German landed at 91.0 meters (-7.2/0.0), but Althaus' 107.3 points meant that Germans had to hand their lead to Norwegians. The third group ended with another excellent as jump, as Jacqueline Seifriedsberger flew 96.5 meters (-13.1/0.0), assisted by the strongest wind according to the computers, and Austrian was the third best jumper by collecting 109.9. TOP6 after 3 groups: 1. Norway 336.3 p, 2. Germany 331.0 p, 3. Japan 319.6 p, 4. Austria 317.1 p, 5. United States of America 314.8 p, 6. Slovenia 309.4 p.

Fourth group [Gate 13, Wind towards: 0.61 m/s (-3.9 p) to 1.47 m/s (-9.4 p)] :

Davide Bresadola's 91.5 meters (-9.0/0.0) was a pleasant surprise, but couldn't assist Italians to the second round. TOP3 teams after the first three groups gave the strongest performances: Germany's Severin Freund landed at 97.0 meters (-8.3/0.0), new men's official hill record and he topped the scores with 122.2 points. Rune Velta wasn't so far, as the men's normal hill champion flew 95.0 meters (-7.6/0.0), and collected 119.4 points, which was enough to keep Norwegians in the lead. Taku Takeuchi got only 4.0 points less than Freund, 118.2 points by jumping 95.0 meters (-6.3/0.0). Second round wasn't for Italians, Finns and jumpers from Czech Republic. Here are the results after the first round, not qualified are in underlined: 1. Norway 455.7 p, 2. Germany 453.2 p, 3. Japan 437.8 p, 4. Austria 428.7 p, 5. Slovenia 427.3 p, 6. United States of America 395.5 p, 7. France 387.8 p, 8. Russia 382.2 p, 9. Italy 374.5 p, 10. Finland 369.5 p, 11. Czech Republic 351.2 p. United States of America qualified for the second round, which was to me a slight surprise, but even bigger was to see French jumpers in TOP8. I thought that Italians could have finished higher.

Mixed Team Event, detailed 1st round results, World Championships, Falun, Sweden, 2015

Second round:

Clouds remained on the skies above Lugnet's Ski Jumping Center, as the second was about to begin. The jumping order for the round was: France, Russia, United States of America, Japan, Norway, Slovenia, Germany and Austria. Some of the jumpers had to cope with a slight wind from behind.

First group [Gate 25, Wind towards: 0.39 m/s (-2.5 p) to 0.88 m/s (-5.6 p)] :

Lea Lemare started the second round by flying 83.0 meters (-4.9/0.0). Irina Avvakumova crossed 90.0 meters with a jump of 91.5 meters (-5.6/0.0) and Russian's score of 108.9 points was 4th best of the group. Nita Englund got the worst condition, and her flight ended at 87.5 meters (-2.5/0.0). Japanese hoped for a good jump from Takanashi, which could get Japan a lot closer to TOP2. Takanashi flew 93.0 meters (-3.3/0.0), but she topped the group's ranking with 114.2 points. Jahr didn't amazing job on the first round, and once again she performed very well: Norwegian landed at 90.5 meters (-5.6/0.0) and scored 107.9 points. Vtic couldn't cope with the hill so well, as Slovenian's second jump came down at 85.5 meters (-3.1/0.0) and gave her 98.4 points, which practically threw Slovenians out of the medal competition. Vogt had to overtake Norwegians: Vogt topped the speed rankings with 85.9 km/h (53.387 mph), launched herself into the air, and her skies touched the ground at 92.0 meters (-3.3/0.0). Vogt's score of 112.7 was 3rd best, and it was enough to return Germans to the lead, even though Carina's launch seemed to begin a bit too late. Iraschko-Stolz perfomed second good jump by landing at 92.5 meters (-5.6/0.0) and scoring 112.9 points. TOP6: 1. Germany 565.9 p, 2. Norway 563.6 p, 3. Japan 552.0 p, 4. Austria 541.6 p, 5. Slovenia 525.6 p, 6. United States of the America 497.5 p.

Second group [Gate 14, Wind: 0.10 m/s from behind (+0.8 p) to 1.10 m/s (-7.0 p)] :

Austrians dropped out of the medal contention even more, as Hayboeck landed at 87.5 (-5.8/0.0) and got only 101.7 points. TOP3 kept being strong: Richard Freitag kept Germans in the lead by flying 92.0 meters (-3.8/0.0) and gathering 115.7 points. Anders Bardal kept the fight tight, as Norwegian got 110.6 points thanks to a jump of 89.5 meters (-1.4/0.0). Noriaki Kasai jumped 88.5 meters (-2.1/0.0) and scored 107.4 points. Nejc Dezman was in the competition the only jumper, who got positive points from wind compensation, and the conditions forced him to land at 86.5 meters (+0.8/0.0). The most dramatic jump of the competition belonged to Nicholas Alexander: jumper from the United States of America was probably surprised by the conditions, as he got the highest minus points in the group from the wind, and Alexander improved by 8.0 meters from the first round, and he landed at 90.5 meters (-7.0/0.0), but unfortunately his uncontrolled landing lead to a terribly looking fall. He couldn't stand up, and the competition was stopped for five minutes. Alexander was taken to hospital, and doctor's analysis confirmed a knee injury, which required a surgery. Unluck of United States' male jumpers kept increasing as only a bit over a month earlier Nicholas Fairall landed in the hospital after his fall in Bischoshofen due to issues with his spinal cord. Fairall's treatment has been funded by other jumpers, such as the German team's victory money from Zakopane's team event, double Olympic Chapion from Sochi Kamil Stoch and Olympic Champion from Sapporo Wojciech Fortuna. Get well, Nicholas Fairall and Alexander! TOP6: 1. Germany 671.6 p, 2. Norway 664.2 p, 3. Japan 659.4 p, 4. Austria 643.3 p, 5. Slovenia 630.4 p, 6. Russia 586.6 p.

Third group [Gate 26, Wind towards: 0.20 m/s (-1.3 p) to 1.53 m/s (-9.8 p)] :

Clair begun the third group of the round by jumping 86.5 meters (-5.1/0.0). Tikhonova flew 89.0 meters (-1.3/0.0) and got 106.2 points. Hendrickson wanted to decrease the gap to Russians after Alexander's unlucky jump: Hendrickson landed at 94.0 meters (-2.7/0.0) and topped the scores with 115.8 points. Ito performed a bit better on the second round with a jump of 90.5 meters (-3.9/0.0) and score of 110.1 points. Lundby was in a tough situation: she had to decrease the gap to Germans so Velta would have better chances to challenge Freund. Lunby flew 91.5 meters (-1.5/0.0) and got 115.5 points. Rogelj jumped 92.5 meters (-3.8/0.0). Althaus had to answer Lundby's jump: the German got the a bit lucky with the conditions, and she carried her flight to 92.5 meters (-9.8/0.0), scoring 108.7 points, but Norwegians decreased the gap. Seifriedsberger concluded the group with a jump of 90.0 meters (-2.0/0.0). TOP8: 1. Germany 790.3 p, 2. Norway 789.7 p, 3. Japan 769.5 p, 4. Austria 749.8 p, 5. Slovenia 745.7 p, 6. United States of America 697.8 p, 7. Russia 692.8 p, 8. 675.9 p

Fourth group [Gate 15, Wind towards: 0.13 m/s (-0.8 p) to 0.78 m/s (-5.0 p)] :

The start order for the final group was: France, Russia, United States of America, Slovenia, Austria, Japan, Norway and Germany. TOP2 teams were separated by 0.6 points, which was exactly the same amount as after Carina Vogt's and Line Jahr's first jumps; just incredible, and what an exciting battle was coming between Freund and Velta, TOP2 in men's individual event!

Descombes Sevoie jumped 85.0 meters (-2.2/0.0). Maksimochkin flew 86.5 meters (-5.0/0.0), and it was enough to beat the United States of America because William Rhoads landed as early as 83.0 meters (-3.5/0.0). Peter Prevc challenged Austrians by jumping 94.5 meters (-0.8/0.0), but Stefan Kraft's 95.0 meters (-4.8/0.0) were enough to keep Austrians 4th. Takeuchi secured 3rd position for Japan by flying 93.5 meters (-3.2/0.0). Rune Velta prepared for his jump, got into the air and landed at 95.5 meters (-2.1/0.0), which gave him 125.9 points and Norwegian team 915.6 points in total. Velta kept his hands up in the air after his jump the same way as the evening before, when he won the individual goal on the same hill. It was all down to Severin Freund. German pushed himself of the starting bench, launched himself into the air, and his skies touched the ground at 96.0 meters (-2.4/0.0). Freund wasn't sure after his jump, whether it was enough. Everyone was waiting, and waiting. After the calculating came to its end, next to the team Germany appeared... Number 1! Carina Vogt became the first ever double female World Champion in the same World Championships. Germans were shouting, jumping, hugging, relieved, happy and emotional after the results were announced. Anders Bardal's disappointment was seen from his face. He and his team had lost the gold medal by 2.3 points, a bit over one meter.

Results of the Mixed Team Event, FIS Ski World Championships, Falun, February 22nd, 2015:

1. Gemany (Carina Vogt, Richard Freitag, Katharina Althaus, Severin Freund)   917.9 points
2. Norway (Line Jahr, Anders Bardal, Maren Lundby, Rune Velta)   915.6 p
3. Japan (Sara Takanashi, Noriaki Kasai, Yuki Ito, Taku Takeuchi)   888.3 p
4. Austria (Iraschko-Stolz, Hayboeck, Seifriedsberger, Kraft)   869.5 p
5. Slovenia (Vtic, Dezman, Rogelj, Prevc)   868.4 p
6. Russia (Avvakumova, Hazetdinov, Tikhonova, Maksimochkin)   791.8 p
7. United States of America (Englund, Alexander, Hendrickson, Rhoads)   789.3 p
8. France (Lemare, Lamy Chappuis, Clair, Descombes Sevoie)   773.2 p
9. Italy (Runggaldier, Colloredo, Insam, Bresadola)   374.5 p
10. Finland (Kykkaenen, Maeaettae, Forsstroem, Ahonen)   369.5 p
11. Czech Republic (Dolezelova, Polasek, Blazkova, Matura)   351.2 p

Mixed Team Event, Official Results, World Championships, Falun, Sweden, 2015

Competition was extremely exciting, interesting, and remarkable. Carina Vogt made once again history in ladies' ski jumping, new team achieved the world championship title, and Norway got on podium as a new team. This competition was surely one of the highlights during the World Championships in Falun.

Mixed Team Event all time medals ranking:
1. Germany   1  -   1
1. Japan   1  -  1
3. Austria   -  1  -
3. Norway   -  1  -

Short FLENAA analysis: Jumper of the day among FLENAA was Sarah Hendrickson, who succeeded on both rounds incredibly. She topped her group in the rankings. Carina Vogt did good job, but I expected from her a bit more, as she was third best in her group, behind Iraschko-Stolz and Takanashi, but the most important thing is that her jumps helped the team achieve the result. I was a bit skeptical after Germans had announced that Althaus would be the jumper beside Vogt to participate in the mixed team event. After the first round it didn't look good, but on the second round Althaus was a bit lucky with the conditions, but she really did pull a good jump, when it was necessary. Sofia Tikhonova did two solid jumps, and her competition went as expected. Julia Kykkaenen did decent job on the first round, but her team couldn't qualify for the second round. Maja Vtic didn't show anything special, which was a slight disappointment to me. Below you may see a sort of a performance table:

Jumper                                            ++      +     +/-     -     --                               total:
Carina Vogt                                   0        1       0      0     0                                  +
Maja Vtic                                       0        0       0      1     0                                   -
Sarah Hendrickson                       1        0       0      0     0                                 ++
Katharina Althaus                        0        1       0      0     0                                   +
Sofia Tikhonova                            0        0       1      0     0                                  +/-
Julia Kykkaenen                           0        0       1      0     0                                  +/-

For the next season, I'll do this sort of a performance ranking, but besides that I'll create a ranking with points, which will decide, who gets the first ever FLENAA-trophy, but that's a thing, which may be used during the Grand Prix season.

All in all, I'd really like to thank you for reading this post, and the support, which really motivates, 15 followers is quite good. The next post will be the first episode of the new series: Profiling the Flying Ladies. Carina Vogt will be represented in the first post. Hopefully, you'll enjoy your day, and click the Follow-button! :)

Weekend Analyses of Ladies' Ski Jumping, Championship Edition: Chapter 2: Who takes over HS100 hill, who's the Champion?

Greetings!
Want to find out the TOP3? - Click this link!
I'm very pleased to write this analysis. You must have seen some items of news, how it went, but let's go through the competition piece by piece. I guess it's time to start with the trial round.

Friday, February 20th, 2015, Falun, Sweden: Lugnet HS100 (Trial round + Grand finale)

Trial round (Wind: 0.20 m/s behind (+1.5 p) to 0.98 m/s towards (-6.3 p) Gate 25, G 26 (-3.1 points)):

Last test before the competition was held under cloudy sky. Wind direction and strength altered during the round. Chinese jumper Xueyao Li started, and jumped 76.0 meters (-4.2/0.0), and scored 27.8 points, enough for 39th place. Anna Odine Stroem crossed 80 meters as the first jumper: 82.5 m (-3.9/0.0), 31st with 41.1 points. Elena Runggaldier jumped into TOP20, after 88.0 m's (-6.3/0.0) flight, with 49.7 in total. Tara Geraghty-Moats performed well on the trial round: 89.5 m (-2.9/0.0), 10th, 56.1 points. Jessica Jerome's 88.0 m's jump (+0.8/0.0) was enough for 56.8, and 9th position. Taylor Henrich flew 91.0 m (-0.1/0.0), and came 3rd in the results, 61.9 points. Jury decided to raise the gate for four jumpers: Sarah Hendrickson capitalized on that, as the defending Champion landed at 93.0 m (-2.7/-3.1), got 4th with 60.2 points. Jacqueline Seifriedsberger's jump of 91.0 m (-2.8/0.0) took her to 7th place. Yuki Ito took the lead from Henrich, with 94.0 m's flight (-1.9/0.0), and Japanese jumper scored 66.1 points. Spela Rogelj jumped 90.5 m (-2.0/0.0), and finished 8th. Carina Vogt flew 91.0 m (-2.2/0.0), which gave German 6th position. Sara Takanashi finished one position higher: 91.0 meters (-2.1/0.0), and 59.9 points. Daniela Iraschko-Stolz landed at 92.5 m (-1.4/0.0) and was ranked 2nd.
TOP10: 1. Ito JPN 66.1, 2. Iraschko-Stolz AUT 63.6, 3. Henrich CAN 61.9, 4. Hendrickson USA 60.2, 5. Takanashi JPN 59.9, 6. Vogt GER 59.8, 7. Seifriedsberger AUT 59.2, 8. Rogelj SLO 59.0, 9. Jerome USA 56.8, 10. Geraghty-Moats USA 56.1

Ito seemed to be very strong. Could she perform two more jumps on the same level, or would so far more succeeded competitiors, such as Iraschko-Stolz, Takanashi, Vogt or Hendrickson, handle the pressure better?

First round (Wind: 0.79 m/s behind (+6.1 p) to 0.71 m/s towards (-4.5 p), Gate 25):

Clouds remained above Lugnet's sports center. Wind changed more radically, and skill wasn't the only needed thing to succeed. Xueyao Li sat on the starting bench as the first jumper: 75.5 meters (+2.2/0.0), 78.2 points and 37th place. Barbora Blazkova didn't capitalize on the best wind conditions suggested by the computer: Blazkova's flight ended at 75.5 meters (-4.5/0.0), and Czech Republic's jumper was ranked 39th. Some of the succeeded jumpers from previous World Championships and Olympic Games had issues: Ulrike Graessler, silver medalist from Liberec, was 23rd, Elena Runggaldier, silver medalist from Oslo came 27th, and bronze medalist from Oslo and Sochi, Coline Mattel was only 28th! Julia Clair, Mattel's team mate jumped next, and Clair continued her good jumps from qualification: 89.0 meters (-1.9/0.0) gave French jumper 10th place after the first round. Jumper number 24, Taylor Henrich proved her very good shape, as Canadian flew 90.5 meters (+2.0/0.0), and took the lead of the competition with 115.5 points. Sarah Hendrickson began TOP10 jumpers' group: the defending champion was unlucky, as strongest wind from behind forced her to land at 87.0 meters (+6.1/0.0), and jumper from the United States of America wasn't satisfied with 111.6 points, and 8th place after the first round. Four favorites of the competition seemed to perform well. Yuki Ito flew 89.0 meters (+2.4/0.0), and was 2nd 1.6 points behind Canadian. Carina Vogt had a great chance to improve her 5th place from Val di Fiemme. Vogt began realizing the plan by landing at 91.5 meters (+2.2/0.0), scoring 119.2 in total, and taking the lead. Slight smile appeared on German's face. Sara Takanashi launched herself into the air, and didn't land until 90.0 meters' line (+2.9/0.0), but her poor landing decreased the amount of points, and was ranked 8th after her jump. World Champion from Oslo, Daniela Iraschko-Stolz, showed, why she's the leader in World Cup standings: 92.5 meters (+2.9/0.0), new hill record, and 3.7 points gap to Vogt.

TOP10: 1. Iraschko-Stolz AUT 122.9, 2. Vogt GER 119.2, 3. Henrich CAN 115.5, 4. Ito JPN 113.9, 5. Pinkelnig AUT 113.6, 6. Seifriedsberger AUT 112.9, 7. Rogelj SLO, 111.9, 8. Hendrickson USA 111.6, 9. Takanashi JPN 111.4, 10. Clair FRA 108.6.

Takanashi's total score was a bit of a disappointment. Other three main favorites came across more calm, and Henrich's third position would bring more interest into the final jumps.

Grand Finale, Second Round (Wind: 0.38 m/s behind to 0.45 m/s towards, Gate 26):

Obviously clouds wanted to watch this exciting event until the end. Michaela Dolezelova got the honor to start the round: Czech's 83.0 meters (+1.0/0.0) were enough to overtake Elena Runggaldier, and it helped Dolezelova to finish 29th. Coline Mattel was very unhappy with her result: so far her worst position in World Championships was 5th, but this event brought French jumper 27th place. Ladies' Ski Jumping's performance level has raised during past couple of years, as the highest climb of the round was only five spots: Jessica Jerome from the United States flew 90.5 meters (+0.6/0.0), gathered 219.4 points, and got from 14th to 9th. Jerome was also leading after 20/30 jumpers, second was Irina Avvakumova from Russia, and third Nita Englund, Jerome's team member.

TOP10 was begun with French coach's last hope for a good result: flag was wawed, and so began Julia Clair's performance. For her, her coach's and French fans, it ended sadly: 83.5 meters (-0.8/0.0), 205.3 points in total, and 21st place in the official results. Sara Takanashi had a lot to improve on the second round. Determined Japanese jumper launched herself into the air, and her skies touched the ground at 93.0 meters (0.1/0.0), which gave her a total score of 228.3, lead of the competition, and new hill record. Sarah Hendrickson's goal was medal, but it the task wasn't after first rounds decent jump: the defending Champion fought herself at 91.0 meters (-0.7/0.0), but she couldn't beat Takanashi, and took 2nd position. Spela Rogelj didn't cross 90.0 meters, as Slovenian flew 88.5 meters (-1.0/0.0), and her score of 217.9 points gave her 10th position in the official results. Val di Fiemme's bronze medalist, Jacqueline Seifriedsberger couldn't beat Takanashi nor Hendrickson. Austrian jumped 90.5 meters (-0.8/0.0), gave her current 3rd with 225.6 points. Eva Pinkelnig dropped from 5th to 8th, as she flew 89.5 meters (-0.3/0.0). Yuki Ito sat on the starting bench to wait for the flag to go down: Ito got the signal, gained her speed, and her flight didn't end until 93.0 meters (+0.2/0.0). Japanese jumper gathered 235.1 points, took the lead from Takanashi, and waited for three remaining jumps. Henrich had a chance to be the best North American jumper. Canadian jumped very well through the whole day: Taylor's last jump of the day went to 91.0 meters, but her unbalanced landing didn't give her much hope for high total score. 15.5, 15.5, 16.0, 16.0 and 16.0, gave her 47.5 points from style, and Canadian took 3rd place, but not in the official results. Carina Vogt moved herself to the starting position, pushed herself of the gate, gained top speed of 86.3 km/h (53,636 mph), spread her skies into the V-position, and German's skies touched the ground at 92.0 meters (+1.2/0.0). Vogt seemed pleased, and her beautiful landing would surely give her the lead: judges disagreed, and gave her only 5 x 17.5, 52.5 in total, and Carina's lead points were 236.9. Only one jumper was remaining. It seemed like Iraschko-Stolz got a pretty simple task to do: 89.5 meters would take Austrian to the second World Championship title. Iraschko-Stolz gained her speed, launched herself in the air, but the flight didn't look so good. She made a quick landing, before the green line, at 89.0 meters. I already stood up and raised my hands in the air as a sign of Vogt's gold medal. Iraschko-Stolz waited for her total score and finishing position: 3rd place, 233.8 points, and she became the first woman ever to get two individual medals of World Championships in Ladies' Ski Jumping. Carina Vogt couldn't believe the turn of events, which led her to be the first female jumper to win both Winter Olympic Games and World Championship's gold medal. German got multiple hugs as a congratulation! YES, YES, YES!!! JUST DET, PÅ DET SÄTTET = EXACTLY, THAT'S THE WAY!!!

TOP10:
1. Carina Vogt  GER   91.5 meters + 92.0 meters, 236.9 points
2. Yuki Ito  JPN   89.0 m + 93.0 m, 235.1 p
3. Daniela Iraschko-Stolz  AUT   92.5 m + 89.0 m, 233.8 p
4. Sara Takanashi  JPN   90.0 m + 93.0 m, 228.3 p
5. Taylor Henrich  CAN   90.5 m + 91.0 m, 227.9 p
6. Sarah Hendrickson  USA   87.0 m + 91.0 m, 226.4 p
7. Jacqueline Seifriedsberger  AUT   89.0 m + 90.5 m, 225.6 p
8. Eva Pinkelnig  AUT   89.0 m + 89.5 m, 223.8 p
9. Jessica Jerome  USA   86.5 m + 90.5 m, 219.4 p
10. Spela Rogelj  SLO   87.0 m + 88.5 m, 217.9 p

It was the most exciting ladies' ski jumping competition I've ever seen. Of course, World Championship title was at stake, and Carina Vogt was among the favourites, but overall competition was enjoyable to watch: 22 jumpers collected more than 200 points in total. There'll definetly more material from the competition on YouTube, so check the channel.

All times medal standings in FIS Ski World Championships, Ladies' Ski Jumping:
1. the United States of America   2  -  -
2. Germany   1  1  -
3. Austria   1  -  2
4. Japan   -  2  -
5. Italy   -  1  -
6. Norway  -  -  1
6. France  -  -  1

From previous medalists, Anette Sagen from Norway, and Lindsay Van from the United States, didn't even qualify into their World Ski Championships teams. The United States kept their lead, Germany got closer, and Austria has achieved 3 medals in 4 events.

World Championships aren't over yet for some of the ladies' Mixed team event is held 22nd of February, 2015. TOP7 jumpers, excluding Henrich and Hendrickson, are the biggest candidates to take the medals. Let's hope for another gold for Carina! Apologies for a bit late posting time, at it's more than 24 hours after the competition, but I was busy with recording YouTube videos, and watching other events from Falun. Thank you very much, and enjoy Carina Vogt's success: there'll be plenty more of it!!! :) Njut av den sista tävlingen!!!

Links:
Carina Vogt's World Champion's interview + TOP3 flower ceremony, German Anthem! YouTube!!!
Official results (PDF-file), World Ski Championships, 2015, Falun, Ladies' Ski Jumping
Results of the 1st round (PDF-file), World Ski Championships, 2015, Falun, Ladies' Ski Jumping
Trial round's results (PDF-file), World Ski Championships, 2015, Falun, Ladies' Ski Jumping

Carina Vogt, World Champion 2015, Falun!!! Ladies' Ski Jumping, interview + flower ceremony, video material!!! :)

Greetings!

This a re-upload of World Ski Championships, Ladies' Ski Jumping, from Falun, with both commentary and national anthem of Germany. I also included Carina Vogt's interview for FIS a World Champion! Check it out: Carina Vogt, World Champion, 2015, Falun!!! World Ski Championships, Ladies' Ski Jumping, Carina Vogt's interview + TOP3 jumpers' flower ceremony!! :)

Enjoy your day, and Carina's success!

P.S. There'll be Weekend Analyses of Ladies' Ski Jumping, Championship Edition, and don't forget to subscribe to the channel, where I'll upload the most important jumps of the competition. Enjoy! Njut av i dag! :)

Carina Vogt, World Champion in Falun!!!

Yes, yes, yes!!! Extremely warm greetings!

Ladies' World Championship competion just finished Carina Vogt did it! :)
91.5 meters and 92.0 meters, 236.9 points, by 1.8 points!
Silver for Yuki Ito, bronze for Iraschko-Stolz. Sara Takanashi fourth, Taylor Henrich fifth, Sarah Hendrickson sixth.

Let's enjoy the victory, massive amount of videos coming on YouTube within the next 24 hours!

Carina Vogt - the greatest!!! :)

World Ski World Championships, Falun, 2015, Ladies Ski Jumping, Normal Hill

Greetings!

First round of the competition has finished, here are the unofficial results:
1. D. Iraschko-Stolz. AUT  92.5 meters (+2.9/0.0)  122.9 points
2. Carina Vogt GER  91.5 meters (+2.2/0.0)   119.2 points
3. Taylor Henrich CAN  90.5 meters   115.5 points
4. Yuki Ito JPN   89.0 meters 113.9 points
...
8. Sarah Hendrickson USA   87.0 meters   111.6 points
9. Sara Takanashi  JPN   90.0 meters   111.4 points

Second round nas already begun, I believe in Vogt, she's the lady to take the gold!!! :)

Resan till Falun 2015 - Trip to Falun 2015: Part 3: Val di Fiemme's light snowfall brings no surprises

Greetings! We move on to the third part of our trip in time. As we are less than 24 hours away from the grand finale, let's take a look at World Championship events from two years ago, Italian Val di Fiemme.

Ladies' ski jumping appeared in the program of FIS Ski World Championships for the third time. The biggest item of news was that Daniela Iraschko couldn't participate in the World Championships. Austrian injured her knee previous month in Hinterzarten, Germany. It lead into a situation, in which the defending World Champion was out of the game even before the World Ski Championships had even started. Romania joined as a new country in ladies' ski jumping World Championships, since Dana Vasilica Haralambie participated in the competition. It's also important to notice that these World Championships were first appearance for Carina Vogt on this level's competitions.

Thursday, 21st of February, 2013, Val di Fiemme (Training rounds + qualification)

Unfortunately results of the training rounds are once again not understandable, so I'll have to rely on my thoughts presented results. Carina Vogt seems to had finished on one training round. Second trainings best points were signed for another German, Ulrike Graessler. Third round's assumed winner is Sarah Hendrickson with the longest jump of the day, 101.0 meters (+10.3/0.0). Coline Mattel was ranked 2nd, 2nd and 3rd. Also Jacqueline Seifriedsberger, and Sara Takanashi have been mentioned in TOP3.
Training results (PDF-file), first version, 21st of February, 2013, Val di Fiemme
Training results (PDF-file), second version, 21st of February, 2013, Val di Fiemme
Training results (PDF-file), third version, 21st of February, 2013, Val di Fiemme

First ever ladies' qualifying session was planned for the evening, but to me for an unknown reason that session was cancelled. It must have been either low amount of participants (45 on the start lists, 40 jumpers into the competition), or tricky conditions. As a result, jumpers had a chance to make an alternative training, or just relax before the important day.

Friday, 22nd of February, 2013, Val di Fiemme (Trial round + World Championship finale)

Start list of the competition suffered a loss of two jumpers. as 43 women appeared for the trial round. Under cloudy sky, and wind towards the hill between 0.09 m/s and 2.33 m/s forced jury to change the gate a couple of times during the round. First fourteen jumps were performed from gate 17. Best jumper among them was Ulrike Graessler. German finished 11th, with total score of 31.3 and her jump's distance was 83.5 meters (-5.7/0.0). Next fourteen jumpers were allowed to start two gates higher, from gate 19. Silver medalist from Oslo, Elena Runggaldier's 92.5 meters (-8.5/-6.1) brought her 6th place, having scored 40.4 points. After Atsuko Tanaka's jump of 77.0 meters (-0.6/-6.1), jury raised the gate to position 21 for TOP15 jumpers. Carina Vogt flew 98.5 meters (-9.7/-12.2), and her score of 45.1 gave her 4th position. Jacqueline Seifriedsberger performed the longest jump of the round: 101.0 meters (-5.6/-12.2), and 53.8 points allowed to her to be the best jumper of the round. Sarah Hendrickson got closest in distance, and total score: 100.5 meters (-7.2/-12.2), and 51.6 points. Sara Takanashi finished 3rd, with total score of 47.0, and her jump of 96.0 meters (-2.8/-12.2). Interesting competition was waiting, especially due to unpredictable conditions.

Clouds remained above the hill for the 1st round. Wind conditions were between 0.26 m/s from behind the hill to 1.85 m/s towards. Competition was began by Chinese jumper Xueyao Li. She jumped 70.0 meters (-7.8/0.0), and finished 42nd with total score of 44.2 points. Dana Vasilica Haralambie's debut didn't last for long. Romanian's flight of 67.5 meters (-10.1/0.0) brought her 37.4 points and 43rd position. Jumper number 6, Chiara Hoelzl succeeded on the 1st round: Austrian landed at 95.5 meters (-8.6/0.0), crossed the K-point of 95.0 meters as the first jumper, and was 12th jumper of the round. Irina Avvakumova took the lead from Hoelzl by jumping 94.0 meters (-6.4/0.0). Excited Russian was 10 th jumper of the round with 102.1 points. Avvakumova was beaten by Kykkaenen, who flew 92.5 meters (-5.3/0.0), and scored 103.2 points, enough for 9th place. Abby Hughes' jump ended at 81.5 meters (-1.8/0.0), and after her jump jury decided to raise the gate from position 21 to 23. Next jumper, Atsuko Tanaka capitalized on that by jumping 92.0 meters (-2.5/-6.2), and taking 15th position in the results. In front her home crowd, Evelyn Insam wanted to give her best performance: 97.0 meters (-3.7/-6.2), and 106.1 points were enough to take the lead from Kykkaenen. Jessica Jerome flew as the first athlete 100.0 meters (-4.5/-6.2), and overtook Insam by 5.7 points. Carina Vogt gained top speed of the round, 89.5 km/h (55.625 mph), which carried her jump until 99.5 meters (-2.2/-6.2). German collected 115.6 points, and was 5th. Seifriedsberger beat Vogt's score, as Austrian flew 104.0 meters (-3.6/-6.2), and scored 118.7 points. Coline Mattel landed between Seifriedsberger and Vogt with a jump of 102.0 meters (-5.1/-6.2), only 0.5 points behind the Austrian. Sarah Hendrickson had participated in both of the previous World Championships, finishing 29th and 16th. She was determined to improve her best, as she launched herself into the air, flew very high, and her skies touched the ground at hill's HS-point, 106.0 meters (-5.4/-6.2)!! Jumper from the United States of America collected 127.4 points. World Cup leader during that time, Sara Takanashi didn't have an easy task to beat Hendrikcson. Japanese jumper got close, as Takanashi jumped 104.5 meters (-1.7/-6.2), gathered 124.1 points, and took 2nd position.
TOP10: 1. Hendrickson USA 127.4, 2. Takanashi JPN 124.1, 3. Seifriedsberger AUT 118.7, 4. Mattel FRA 118.2, 5. Vogt GER 115.6, 6. Jerome USA 111.8, 7. Insam ITA 106.1, 8. Sagen NOR 105.3, 9. Kykkaenen FIN 103.2, 10. Avvakumova RUS 102.1

Jury of the competition decided to return to starting position 21. Clouds added their role, as slight snowfall started to cover top of the hill. Wind was towards the hill, between 0.22 m/s and 1.52 m/s. Italian Manuela Malsiner started the final round, jumping 87.0 meters (-10.6/0.0), which was enough to rise from 30th to 29th position. Two years earlier, Maja Vtic gained 13 places on the second round in Oslo. In Val di Fiemme, her second competition jump was 94.5 meters (-6.3/0.0), and it helped Slovenian to get from 26th to 19th. Biggest climb of the round belonged to the very first World Champion in ladies' ski jumping, Lindsey Van. Van was 24th after the first round, but improved by 8 positions with a jump of 93.5 meters (-3.2/0.0). Elena Runggaldier was unable to defend her 2nd place from Oslo, but she flew 93.0 meters (-4.3/0.0), and got from 16th to 12th. Silver medalist from Liberec, Ulrike Graessler took the lead, by flying 95.0 meters (-7.1/0.0), and gathering 201.9 points in total. One of the youngest participants of the competion Chiara Hoelzl impressed on the second round as well. 15-year-old Austrian flew 94.5 meters (-7.6/0.0), and captured the lead from Graessler by 2.4 points. After 20 jumpers, Hoelzl led, Graessler was second and Runggaldier third.

Irina Avvakumova had 3.2 points' gap over Hoelzl. 10th jumper after the first round landed at 91.0 meters (-2.7/0.0), gathered 200.4 points, and took equal 4th with Slovenian Spela Rogelj. Kykkaenen was the next jumper attempting to take overtake Hoelzl. Finn got a nice finish for her competition, as she jumped 90.0 meters (-2.0/0.0), took 2nd place, and assured herself at least 10th position. One of the most experienced jumpers, winning 5 times Continental Cup overall standings, Norwegian Anette Sagen, was the one to beat Hoelzl. Sagen flew 94.5 meters (-2.0/0.0), collected 213.3 points, and was 1st. Evelyn Insam didn't steal the lead, as Italian landed at 92.5 meters (-3.6/0.0), but Italian public cheered for Insam's current 2nd place. Jessica Jerome returned colors of the Untied States of America on the 1st position, as she flew 98.0 meters (-4.9/0.0), and beat Sagen's total score by 11.6 points. Carina Vogt didn't allow Jerome to enjoy her 1st place for long: German's skies did touch the ground at 96.0 meters (-5.7/0.0), but her better points from style between 17.5 and 18.5 compared to Jerome's 16.5 and 18.0 were enough to give Vogt the lead by 0.5 points, as four jumpers were remaining. Coline Mattel was only 0.5 points behind the podium after her first jumps, so she did everything she could to take second medal for France in ladies' ski jumping. Mattel flew 95.5 meters (-5.2/0.0), and overtook German by 4.1 points. Jacqueline Seifriedsberger didn't care about the minimum set by the French jumper, and she secured herself a medal: Austrian landed at 98.5 meters (-1.5/0.0), and scored 237.2 points. Takanashi wasn't aiming for the silver. Japanese jumper launched herself in the air, and she didn't land until 103.0 meters' line. Takanashi's compensation points (-3.1/0.0) decreased her total score to 251.0 points. She was sure to beat Seifriedsberger, but would it be enough for beating Hendrikcson. Wind conditions improved a bit for Hendrikcson, as she had to jump 103.0 meters, even though she had 3.3 points' lead after the first round. Jumper from the United States gained a speed of 88.0 km/h (54,692 mph), 0.7 km/h less than Vogt, gained really nice height, and Hendrikcon's skies didn't touch the ground until 103.0 meters. It was enough according to the computers, but she needed better points from style than 18.0. Judges gave her 18.5, 19.5, 19.0, 19.0 and 19.0, which meant 3 x 19.0 points. Hendrickson was surrounded by her team mates, as the results were announced: 1st place, 253.7 points, and World Champioship title! Also coach of the United States, Paolo Bernardi showed his excitement furiously, and got congratulations from other coaches.

TOP10:
1. Sarah Hendrickson  USA   106.0 meters + 103.0 meters = 253.7 points
2. Sara Takanashi  JPN   104.5 m + 103.0 m = 251.0 p
3. Jacqueline Seifriedsberger  AUT 104.0 m + 98.5 m = 237.2 p
4. Coline Mattel  FRA   102.0 m + 95.5 m = 229.5 p
5. Carina Vogt  GER   99.5 m + 96.0 m = 225.4 p
6. Jessica Jerome  USA   100.0 m + 98.0 m = 224.9 p
7. Anette Sagen  NOR   97.0 m + 94.5 m = 213.3 p
8. Evelyn Insam  ITA   96.0 m + 92.5 m = 210.5 p
9. Chiara Hoelzl  AUT   95.5 m + 94.5 m = 204.3 p
10. Julia Kykkaenen  FIN   92.5 m +90.0 m = 203.2 p

All time medal standings in FIS Ski World Championships Ladies' Ski Jumping after Val di Fiemme:
1. the United States of America   2  -  -
2. Austria   1  -  1
3. Germany  -  1  -
3. Italy   -  1  -
3. Japan   -  1  -
6. Norway   -  -  1
6. France   -  -  1

Competition was very exciting to was watch: 7 jumps 100.0 meters or more, 106.0 meters was achieved, and yet another new World Champion was crowned. TOP15 crossed the border of 200.0 points in total, which also proved that level in ladies' ski jumping had increased massively. Next World Ski Championships in Falun would host even more interesting battle for medals in ladies' ski jumping. If everything goes according to the plans, we'll see the official results from Falun's finale in less than 21 hours. Thanks for checking out the third part of this very soon ending and exciting trip. Enjoy your/night, and hopefully you'll conclude the journey with me in our destination, Falun, Sweden. :)

Links:
Official results of the competition (PDF-file), 22nd of February, 2013, Val di Fiemme, Italy
Results of the 1st round (PDF-file), February 22nd, 2013, Val di Fiemme, Italy
Trial round's results (PDF-file), 22nd of February, 2013, Val di Fiemme, Italy

Weekend Analyses of Ladies' Ski Jumping, Championship Edition: Chapter 1: Training rounds start Falun's World Championship

Greetings! Weeks have gone so quickly, and now we're in the phase, when it's time to do the first ever Weekend Analyses of Ladies' Ski Jumping, Championship edition. Let's get to the first events of this very special week.

Wednesday, 18th of February, 2015 (Training day)

Lugnet Ski Jumping center had been improved during years 2012 and 2013. (lugnet = calm, relaxing, relaxation) HS100 hill's record belongs to former Slovenian ski jumper Primoz Peterka: he flew 105.0 meters in a World Cup competition in March, 1996. Ladies' hill record was made today, 18th of February, 2015 by Yuki Ito, who's second training jump ended at 95.0 meters. Hills are well-prepared, and HS 100 hill was ready for ladies' first training rounds.

First training round:
Whole day was cloudy, and not too windy. Starting position was set at gate 26 for the first training round. Wind was between 0.55m/s from behind the hill and 0.03 m/s towards the hill. 15-year-old Hungarian, Virag Voros was the first athlete to give a performance during FIS Ski World Championships in Falun, 2015. Voros' flight didn't last for long, as Hungarian landed at 51.0 meters (+0.1/0.0). Silver medalist from Oslo, Elena Runggaldier, was the first jumper to cross 80.0 meters. Italian jumped 82.5 meters (+2.6/0.0), which was enough to give her 20th position of the round. Finn Julia Kykkaenen did very nice jump: 87.0 meters (+2.9/0.0), gathered 56.9 points, and finished the round in 8th place. Kykkaenen's result wasn't beaten until Taylor Henrich's jump: Henrich landed at 89.0 meters (+2.1/0.0), scored 60.1 points and was 3rd. German Katharina Althaus jumped 88.0 meters (+1.9/0.0), which gave her 6th place. Defending World Champion Sarah Hendrickson flew only 82.0 meters (+2.0/0.0), and finished 23rd. Yuki Ito has jumped a very good season, and she showed some very nice performance on the first training round: 88.0 meters (+2.8/0.0), and 4th place with 58.8 points. Spela Rogelj landed at 15th position. Carina Vogt was absent from Ljubno, preparing for the World Championships. Vogt's skies touched the ground at 88.0 meters (+2.6/0.0), total score of 58.6, just enough for 5th place. Sara Takanshi was the first jumper to beat Henrich's score. Japanese jumper equaled Canadian's distance 89.0 meters (+2.2/0.0), and beat Henrich by 0.1 points. World Cup leader, and World Champion from Oslo, Daniela Iraschko-Stolz jumped longest jump of the round, 89.5 meters (+1.5/0.0) and beat Takanashi's score by 0.3 points.
TOP10: 1. Iraschko-Stolz AUT 60.5, 2. Takanashi JPN 60.2, 3. Henrich CAN 60.1, 4. Ito JPN 58.8, 5. Vogt GER 58.6, 6. Althaus GER 57.9, 7. Vtic SLO 57.1, 8. Kykkaenen FIN 56.9, 9. Seifriedsberger AUT 55.4, 10. Englund USA 54.1

Second training round:
Starting gate was raised from 26 to 27. Wind's variation increased to 0.33 m/s from behind the hill to 0.40 m/s towards the hill. Hungarian Voros improved her distance by 7.0 meters to 58.0 meters (-1.9/0.0). Norwegian Anna Odine Stroem flew as the first lady of the round over 80.0 meters. 16-year-old jumper landed at 84.5 meters (-0.6/0.0), and jumper with number 6 finished 32nd, having collected 48.4 points. Runggaldier improved from the first round, jumping 89.0 meters (-0.7/0.0), gathered 57.3 points, and finished 14th. Kykkaenen flew 86.0 meters (+0.7/0.0), and took 24th place. Taylor Henrich did another great jump: 93.0 meters (-1.3/0.0), scored 64.7 points, which was enough for 7th place. Althaus equaled Canadian's 93.0 meters (-0.7/0.0), but collected 0.6 points more and finished 6th. Hendrikcson came 9th with 62.7 points, and a jump of 91.5 meters (-0.3/0.0). Eva Pinkelnig landed at 93.0 meters (-1.3/0.0) and equaled Henrich's points. Yuki Ito proofed with her second jump that she's in a great shape. longest jump of the round, 95.0 meters (-0.6/0.0), 69.4 points, and 2nd place in the results. Judges decided to drop the gate back to position 26 for four remaining jumpers: Slovenian Rogelj landed at 93.0 meters (-2.6/+3.1), 66.5 points were enough for 5th position. Carina Vogt flew nicely, 93.5 meters (-0.8/+3.1), achieved 69.3 points, which gave her 3rd place. Sara Takanashi topped the results with 70.3 points, and a jump of 94.0 meters (-0.8/+3.1). Iraschko-Stolz jumped 92.0 meters (-0.3/+3.1), and finished 4th, scoring 66.8 points.
TOP10: 1. Takanashi JPN 70.3, 2. Ito JPN 69.4, 3. Vogt GER 69.3, 4. Iraschko-Stolz AUT 66.8, 5. Rogelj SLO 66.5, 6. Althaus GER 65.3, 7. Henrich CAN & Pinkelnig AUT 64.7, 9. Hendrikcson USA 62.7, 10. Seyfarth GER 59.8

Third training round:
Gate 26 was third training round's starting position. Wind's variation decreased, the 'borders' were: 0.32 m/s from behind to 0.28 m/s towards the hill. Virag Voros' final jump of the day was 55.0 meters (+2.5/0.0) brought Hungarian another equaled 44th position with a total score of 0.0 points. Jumper number 2 , Chinese Xueyao Li, appeared on the top of the hill for the first time, and finished 42nd with a score of 6.4 points and a jump of 62.0 meters (+2.4/0.0). Her team mate, Tong Ma's flight ended at 57.0 meters (+1.5/0.0), and she equaled Hungarian's score 0.0. After Ma's jump, judges raised the starting position to gate 27. It assisted Elena Runggaldier to cross 80.0 meters, by jumping 81.5 meters (-1.2/-3.1), which gave her a total score of 38.7, and Italian finished in 22nd. Silver medalist from Liberec, Ulrike Graessler was the last jumper to start from the gate 27. German flew 82.5 meters (-0.8/-3.1), scored 41.1 points and finished 20th. Bronze medalist from Oslo, Coline Mattel jumped next, landed at 79.5 meters (-0.4/-6.2). Jessica Jerome from the United States flew 88.0 meters (0.0/-6.2), and finished in 14th. Jerome's lead didn't last for long, as Taylor Henrich's skies touched the ground at 90.0 meters (+1.2/-6.2). Canadian's total score of 55.0 gave her 9th place in the end. Chara Hoelzl was 11th with 53.0 points, with a jump of 89.0 meters (+1.2/-6.2). Maren Lundby equaled Austrian's 89.0 meters (+1.3/-6.2), beat her score by 0.1 points, and Norwegian finished 10th. German Katharina Althaus decided to skip the final training round. Irina Avvakumova flew 92.0 meters (+0.6/-6.2), and took 7th place with 58.4 points. Russian's score was beaten by Hendrickson, who landed at 92.5 meters (+0.2/-6.2), scored 59.0 and finished 6th. Pinkelnig finished 8th with a jump of 90.5 meters (+0.5/-6.2). Yuki Ito wrapped her day with a 3rd place, scored 60.1 points, and jumped 92.0 meters (-0.8/-6.2). Spela Rogelj equaled Ito's 92.0 meters (-1.8/-6.2), and finished 5th with 59.1 points. Vogt's flight landed at 92.0 meters (-1.3/-6.2), which gave her a score of 59.6 and 4th place. Takanashi flew 93.0 meters (-0.6/-6.2), gathered 62.3 points and was 2nd. Iraschko-Stolz finished the day, where she had started: 1st, 65.8 points, and 94.0 meters (+0.9/-6.2).
TOP10: 1. Iraschko-Stolz AUT 65.8, 2. Takanashi JPN 62.3, 3. Ito JPN 60.1, 4. Vogt GER 59.6, 5. Rogelj SLO 59.1, 6. Hendrickson USA 59.0, 7. Avvakumova RUS 58.4, 8. Pinkelnig AUT 55.3, 9. Henrich CAN 55.0, 10. Lundby NOR 53.1

On the whole, results were as expected. Henrich's lower starting number (30 out of 46) as a result of her appearance in only four of 13 World Cup competitions. Henrich is already familiar with the hill, as she participated in three Continental Cup competitions on Falun's HS100, finishing 13th, 2nd and 1st. Defending World Champion Hendrickson improved during the day, same goes for Spela Rogelj. Katharina Althaus jumped two times 6th place, and was so confident that she decided to rest through the third training round.

I was most impressed by Yuki Ito, Carina Vogt, Sara Takanashi and Daniela Iraschko-Stolz. Ito finished 4th, 2nd and 3rd. Vogt achieved positions: 5th, 3rd and 4th. Takanashi was in TOP2, by being 2nd, 1st and 2nd. Iraschko-Stolz won first and third training round, but was 4th on the second one.
If we show those four jumpers' longest jump, and count their points together, the statistics look like this:
1. Iraschko-Stolz AUT  94.0 m,   60.5p +66.8p + 65.8p = 193.1p
2. Takanashi JPN  94.0 m,   60.2p + 70.3p + 62.3p = 192.8p
3. Ito JPN  95.0 m,   58.8p + 69.4p + 60.1p = 188.3p
4. Vogt GER  93.5 m,   58.6p + 69.3p + 59.6p = 187,5p

Results are interesting, but past has shown us that results of training won't give us 100% correct medal candidates. There's always room for a surprise. I'm happy with the results of the first training day, tomorrow, 19th of February, there's more practice, and also a qualifying session. You'll find about those events on this blog before trial round of the great finale. I hope you enjoyed this analysis, tell you're on the results. Enjoy your day, and this very special week! :)

Links:
Full results of training rounds (PDF-file) , 18th of February, 2015, Lugnet, Falun

Resan till Falun 2015 - Trip to Falun 2015: Part 2: New countries taking over the podium in Oslo

Greetings! Here's the second part of our mini-series Resan till Falun 2015. Speaking of which, the first training day in Falun for ladies on the HS 100 hill has been completed. Therefore, it's a good moment to go back to year 2011 in history of FIS Ladies Ski Jumping World Ski Championships.

First World Ski Championships in Ladies' Ski Jumping in Liberec brought more activity around ladies' ski jumping. Amount of participants increased from 36 to 43, and new nations, such as China and Russia joined in. Among new jumpers, there was a debut-making jumper, who later would become a successful jumper: Sara Takanashi from Japan. Some of the TOP20 names from Liberec got out of the way for newer jumpers: Germans Magdalena Schnurr (7th in Liberec), and Jenna Mohr (15th), Canadians Nata de Leeuw (11th), and Katie Willis (19th), and Norwegian Helena Olsson Smeby (16th). In addition, wind and gate compensation were included for the first time in Ski Jumping in the World Ski Championships. In these reports, compensation points will be shown in this way: (wind/gate). After this general overview, let's get to the events.

Thursday 24th of February, 2011. Holmenkollen, Oslo, Norway (Training)

Midstubakken HS106 hill was prepared for Ladies' practice. According to yet another confusing statistics, the first jumper was Russian Maria Notova. To be honest, the statistics are unreadable: one result list shows absence Jaqueline Seifriedsberger from all of the training rounds, another shows similar absence of  complete TOP10 excluding Seifriedsberger, Lindsey Van and Jessica Jerome. Only some assumptions can be made: Daniela Iraschko was listed as 2nd, 1st and 1st in the results. The first training round was (may have been) won by Sara Takanashi. Information about wind, and even jumpers' results altered in every possible way from one result list to another. I'll leave links to the results here below, to show you, how badly FIS must have messed up:
Results of training (PDF-file), Holmenkollen, Oslo, 2011, first version
Results of training (PDF-file), Holmenkollen, Oslo, 2011, second version
Results of training (PDF-file), Holmenkollen, Oslo, 2011, third version

Friday 25th of February, 2011, Holmenkollen, Oslo Norway (Trial Round and World Championship competition)

42 jumpers appeared for a foggy trial round at Midstubakken hill in Oslo. Wind altered between 0.17 m/s from behind the hill to 1.83 m/s towards. The youngest participant in Ladies' Ski Jumping, Sara Takanashi with her incredible jump of 105.0 meters (-9.2/0.0). Takanashi's jump from gate 22 was the longest one during the round, and it brought her a total score of 70.8 points, which were enough to top the results' list. She was followed by Iraschko. Austrian started her jump three gates lower, gate 19, and with gained speed of 87.3 km/h (54,257 mph) she flew 95.5 meters (-8.1/+9.5). Iraschko lost 8.4 points to Takanashi. TOP3 was completed by Coline Mattel. French jumper, 5th in Liberec, landed at 91.5 meters (-0.1/+6.4) and scored 59.3 points. Second longest jump of the round was presented by another Japanese jumper, Ayumi Watase: 100.0 meters (-12.8/0.0) gave her 6th position with total score of 57.2. The defending World Champion Lindsey Van didn't show her best on the training round, having landed at 89.0 meters (-11.5/+6.4) and finishing 17th with 42.9 points. Iraschko seemed to be in great shape once again, but could she convert her good training jumps into great jumps in the competition, or would Sara Takanashi grab the gold?

First competition round was started from gate 21. Foggy weather, and altering wind from towards between 0.06 m/s and 2.03 m/s brought their own effects into the competition. Maria Notova from Russia sat on starting bench with number 1. Her jump's distance was 69.5 meters (-8.9/0.0), and total score 46.6 points meant that Notova's competition lasted only one round, she finished 38th. First jump above 80.0 meters was presented by Italian Roberta D Agostina, who decided to skip the tricky trial round. Italian jumper's 84.0 meters (-12.5/0.0) brought her 28th place after the first round. Maren Lundby in front of her home public wanted to show her skills. Norwegian didn't disappoint viewers, as she flew 89.5 meters (-7.8/0.0) and took the lead from D Agostina by 19.2 points! Finn Julia Kykkaenen challenged Lundby with her jump of 91.5 meters (-13.3/0.0), but Norwegian kept her position only by 0.5 points, Lundby's joy didn't last for much longer, as jumper 19, Alissa Johnson from the United States of America landed at 91.0 meters (-8.3/0.0). Johnson's lead was 3.0 points. Best wind conditions (according to the statistics) were used well by Evelyn Insam. Italian capitalized on 2.03 m/s wind towards the hill and flew 94.5 meters (-14.2/0.0). Her score of 97.8 points gave her 6th position after the first round. Italian's were allowed to enjoy first two positions, when number 32, Elena Runggaldier's jump ended at 97.5 meters (-5.6/0.0). First jump over hill's K-point Longest jump of the round gave her 113.4 points, and she kept lead of the competition for quite a while.

World Cup's current TOP10 performed incredibly variating jumps. Slovenian Maja Vtic jumped 88.5 meters (-9.4/0.0), which was enough for 18th place after the first jump. Defending World Champion Lindsey Van was expected to show her best in the competition. Unfortunately, it didn't go that way. Van didn't capitalize on decent wind conditions, and surprised negatively by landing as early as at 75.0 meters (-8.1/0.0), 20.0 meters earlier than hill's K-point! Jumper from the United Statestook 26th position after her jump. With a slight possibility to qualify, but already lost medal battle, defending Champion had no other choice than accept the situation. Silver medalist from Liberec, Ulrike Graessler was next. German flew 94.0 meters (-7.3/0.0), and squeezed herself between two Italians in the current results. Juliane Seyfarth from Germany, and Jaqueline Seifriedsberger from Austria nearly assisted Lindsey Van with getting on the second round. In the end, jumpers with numbers 37 and 38 finished 31st and 32nd. Jessica Jerome with number 39 didn't perform much better than two previous jumpers, but her 84.0 meters (-5.2/0.0) brought her 21st place after the first round. Number 40, German Melanie Faisst was 19th with 88.0 meters (-9.2/0.0). Eva Logar showed more expected jump: 91.0 meters (-1.8/0.0), and it was enough for 4th place in the results of first round. Mattel continued from where she left: 5th position after the first round, having jumped 92.0 meters (-6.7/0.0) and collected 98.8 points. Austrian coach decided to take a small risk: he lowered starting position by one for Iraschko. Iraschko didn't hesitate, as she flew 97.0 meters (-4.0/+3.2) and took the lead with 118.2 points. Results of the round meant that there would be a new World Champion. TOP10 + medalists from Liberec: 1. Iraschko AUT 118.2, 2. Runggaldier ITA 113.4, 3. Graessler GER 103.2, 4. Logar SLO 102.7, 5. Mattel FRA 98.8, 6. Insam ITA 97.8, 7. Johnson USA 96.7, 8. Demetz ITA 94.8, 9. Takanashi JPN 94.7, 10. Lundby NOR 93.7 ... 13. Sagen & Jahr NOR 92.4 ... 34. Van USA 61,4

Fog dominated Midstubakken hill as well, as the second round was about to start. Wind altered also partially behind the hill: 0.25 m/s from behind the hill to 1.26 m/s towards the hill. Czech Vladena Pustkova began the second round. Pustkova's 78.5 meters (-6.9/0.0) allowed her to finish the competition in 29th place. Second round's first jump over 90.0 meters was performed by Canadian Taylor Henrich. 16-year-old jumper flew 92.0 meters(-6.5/0.0) and went 8 places up to finish 18th. Melanie Faisst was one of the TOP10 World Cup jumpers, who disappointed audience on the first round. German jumped on the second round 92.0 meters (-6.2/0.0), and went from 19th to 9th. The biggest climb was made by Slovenian Maja Vtic. She flew 97.0 meters (-6.6/0.0), and improved by 13 places from 18th to 5th! Vtic's jump 3rd best of the round. Despite good trial round's jump, Ayumi Watase didn't impress with her first competition jump. Her second jump in competition was better, as her skies touched the ground at 93.0 meters (-7.4/0.0), and with that jump she took second place behind Vtic. Bronze medalist from Liberec, Anette Sagen didn't jump on her best level: on the second round Norwegian landed at 80.5 meters (-5.0/0.0), and went down to 22nd position. In comparison, her team mate Line Jahr went from equal 13th with Sagen to 10th place. After 20 jumpers, Vtic was in the lead, followed by Watase and Faisst.

First round's TOP10 had a challenging task to beat Vtic from the lead. The final hope of Norwegians, Maren Lundby tried to complete the mission, but her jump of 85.5 meters (-5.2/0.0) allowed her to take current 5th, right behind Line Jahr, best Norwegian of the day. 14-year-old Sara Takanashi didn't allow Watase to be the best Japanese jumper. Takanashi flew 93.0 meters (-6.7/0.0), but she couldn't beat Vtic. Third Italian in TOP10, Lisa Demetz couldn't had to give up 5 positions as she landed at 83.0 meters (-2.9/0.0) Alissa Johnson's attempt got an unfortunate end, as she couldn't keep her landing balanced after her 81.0 meters' (+1.8/0.0) flight, and the incident dropped her on the 20 position in the overall results. Moreover, Johnson got the worst wind conditions of the round. Evelyn Insam wanted to Demetz' fate to drop out of TOP10: Insam managed it by flying 87.5 meters (-6.7/0.0), and being 4th after her jump. Coline Mattel wanted to get the medal she had lost on the second round in Liberec. French jumper got up in the air, and landed at 97.0 meters (-5.8/0.0), and was first to beat Vtic, with total of 211.5 points. Eva Logar repeated Takanashi's deed, as Slovenian beat her team mate with a jump of 88.5 meters (-3.8/0.0). Logar took current 2nd, 1.9 points ahead of Vtic. Ulrike Graessler was the remaining jumper, who could defend her medal from Liberec, but she failed as well: 79.5 meters (-8.8/0.0) dropped her 16 places to 19th... Mattel had medal for sure, but TOP2 had quite a gap to other jumpers. Elena Runggaldier brought Italian's first medal in history of ladies' ski jumping by jumping 93.5 meters (-5.5/0.0), and gathering 218.9 points. If wind conditions didn't change, Iraschko would need a jump 91.5 meters or more. Wind conditions remained unchanged, Iraschko spread her skies into V-position, flew 97.0 meters (-5.5/0.0), landed in style, and celebrated her first World Championship medal, gold. Austrian remained calm, and could bury the disappointment from two years earlier.

TOP 10:
1. Daniela Iraschko  AUT    97.0 meters + 97.0 meters, 231.7 points
2. Elena Runggaldier  ITA    97.5 m + 93.5 m, 218.9 p
3. Coline Mattel  FRA   92.0 m + 97.0 m, 211.5 p
4. Eva Logar  SLO   91.0 m + 88.5 m, 197.9 p
5. Maja Vtic  SLO   88.5 m + 97.0 m, 196.0 p
6. Sara Takanashi  JPN   92.0 m + 93.0 m, 195.0 p
7. Ayumi Watase  JPN   89.0 m + 93.0 m, 192.8 p
8. Evelyn Insam  ITA   94.5 m + 87.5 m, 188.1 p
9. Melanie Faisst  GER   88.0 m + 92.0 m, 185.1 p
10. Line Jahr  NOR   89.5 m + 84.5 m, 181.3 p

Windy conditions affected competition a lot. Unfortunately even added compensation points aren't enough to cover the loss in meters. In addition, during jumpers flight conditions may get worse or better, and as a result jumper gets either too much extra, or loses too many points. Also, changing the gate is a risk during changing conditions, as one fantastic jump may result in multiple jumpers failure and decreasing competition's entertainment. TOP3 was in their own class, and they had multiple points' differences between themselves. Competition at Holmenkollen gave another boost for ladies' ski jumping's popularity.

All time medal standings, FIS World Ski Championships Ladies' Ski Jumping:
1. the United States of America  1 - -
1. Austria  1 - -
3. Germany  - 1 -
3. Italy  - 1 -
5. Norway  - - 1
5. France  - - 1

Second of Resan till Falun 2015 is completed. There were a lot of changes compared Liberec, but I hope you enjoyed this second part as well. I'm planing to write to FIS about their statistics issue, and start working with the very first Weekend Analyses of Ladies' Ski Jumping, Championship edition. Remember to follow, so you won't miss all the action. Enjoy your day, and hope you'll join this trip to find about Val di Fiemme, Italy! :)

Links:
Official results (PDF-file), World Ski Championships, ladies' ski jumping, Oslo, 2011
Results of the 1st round (PDF-file), World Ski Championships, ladies' ski jumping, Oslo, 2011
Trial Round results (PDF-file), World Ski Championships, ladies' ski jumping, Oslo, 2011
Detailed information about Oslo's HS100 hill

Resan till Falun 2015 - Trip to Falun 2015: Part 1: It all begins in Liberec

Greetings! It's the World Championship week, which gave me an idea for a mini-text-series. We'll go through FIS World Championships' history of Ladies' Ski Jumping. Without unnecessarily long introduction, let's return to year 2009.

Liberec, Czech Republic. February 19th, 2009. It's the day of first ever FIS World Championship training rounds in Ladies' Ski Jumping. Three rounds of jumps are held in snowy conditions. Since there were no gate nor wind factors, training rounds results were based on flown distance by the jumper. FIS statistics are a bit confusing, but it seems like the first jump was performed by Lucie Mikova, from Czech Republic. Her jump's distance was 38.0 meters. First training round's TOP3 by distance: 1. Daniela Iraschko (currently Iraschko-Stolz) AUT 97.5 meters, 2. Magdalena Schnurr GER 93.0 meters, 3. Anette Sagen NOR 91.5 meters. Wind was presented in the results list: on the first round it was towards the hill between 0.3 m/s and 2.8 m/s. On the second round winds strength didn't change much: 0.2 m/s to 2.9 m/s towards the hill. Anna Haefele from Germany jumped the longest distance of the second training round, 95.5 meters. She was followed by Anette Sagen, 94.5 meters, and Daniela Iraschko with 92.5 meters. Iraschko returned to the 1st position on the last training round, flying 101.0 meters. Anette Sagen was like glued: 2nd place, having jumped 97.5 meters. Canadian Nata de Leeuw finished 3rd, with a jump of 95.0 meters. Wind got even stronger, from 0.7 m/s to 3.9 m/s towards! Iraschko and Sagen came across as sure medalists, and candidates for the win.

Friday, 20 th of February, 2009. Competition day began with a trial round, because 39 jumpers had signed up and 36 of them turned up for the competition, there was no need for qualifying. Daniela Iraschko didn't seem to give up on her leader's position: Austrian jumped 98.5 meters. She was followed once again by Anette Sagen, who landed at 92.5 meters. Third longest jump was performed by Alissa Johnson from the United States of America. She flew 91.0 meters. Wind altered between 0.0 m/s and 2.4 m/s towards the hill. Iraschko's and Sagen's dominance seemed to continue,

With some snow falling from the sky, everything was ready for the first ever Ladies' World Championship contest in ski jumping. The first jumper was Norwegian Maren Lundby. 14-year-old young lady flew 73.5 meters, received 73.5 points, which gave her 19th position after the first round. Coline Mattel with number 18 got great applause from the audience. She was the first jumper of the round to cross 80 meters, and her jump didn't land until 90.0 meters. 112.5 points kep her in the lead for quite a while. First serious threat for French jumper's lead was Magdalena Schnurr. German achieved 89.0 meters, and took 2nd place 1.5 points behind Mattel. Second training round's best jumper Anna Haefele flew 88.5 meters on her first jump in the competition, gathering 109.5 ponits, which was enough for 7th place after the first round. Dominance in training jumps didn't give Iraschko any major advantage at least on the first round: Austrian's jump ended at 89.0 meters, and her 112.0 points were enough to give her equaled 4th place on the result list. German Ulrike Graessler sat on the starting bench right after Iraschko. Graessler launched herself into the air and didn't land until 93.5 meter. She collected 120.0 points, and took the lead. Lindsey Van from the United States equaled Iraschko in both distance and points. Anette Sagen was the last jumped with number 36 on her chest. She landed at the same point as Graessler, but she was 2nd 1.5 points behind the leading German, due to her lower points from style. TOP6: 1. Graessler GER 120.0, 2. Sagen NOR 118.5, 3. Mattel FRA 112.5, 4. Van USA & Iraschko AUT 112.0, 6. Schnurr GER 111.0. Wind conditions were tricky once again, wind was towards the hill between 0.1 m/s and 2.7 m/s.

Wind conditions got a bit more equal, but it still altered from 0.4 m/s to 2.4 m/s towards the hill. Judges decided to raise the gate from 24 to 25. There were two jumpers on 30th position. Second round was started by Julia Kykkaenen. Finn flew 12.5 meters further than on the first round, landing at 72.0 meters. She got from 30th place to 26th with her total score of 113.0 points. Sarah Hendrikcson equaled Kykkaenen's points on the first round, but jumper from the United States of America lost the battle by jumping 69.5 meters. Hendrickson finished 29th in the results. Second round's biggest gain was made by Helena Olsson Smeby. Norwegian improved her position from 27th to 16th by jumping 87.0 meters. Her total score was 160.0 points.

TOP10 was started by Jessica Jerome. Hendrickson's team mate flew 91.0 meters, which gave her 207.0 points in total and 6th place in the results. Magdalena Schnurr had to give her position to Jerome, as German landed as early as at the 81.5 meters' line. Daniela Iraschko wanted to repeat one of her excellent training jumps. She gained speed of 90.2 km/h (56,060 mph), and Austrian's jump landed at 91.0 meters. Iraschko collected 228.0 points, but it seemed like tension blocked her best jumps. Lindsey Van from the United States wanted to finish at least as the best North American jumper's speed was 89.5 km/h (55,625 mph), but lower speed didn't stop her from jumping the longest jump of the competition: 97.5 meters! Van's points for style altered between 18.5 and 19.0. Van collected 243.0 points, and took the lead from Iraschko by 15.0 points. French jumper Mattel was under a lot of pressure, but her performance didn't suffer much: 87.5 meters, and total score of 220.5 gave her current 3rd place. Not bad for a 13-year-old!!! Anette Sagen wanted to change her fate for being second round after round. Norwegian had 6.5 points' advantage after first round, which meant she needed a jump around 95.0 meters. Sagen's speed was 90.3 km/h (56.122 mph) and with the speed she carried her jump until 94.0 meters. Norwegian got from style between 16.5 and 18.0 points. It wasn't enough, and she took second place, 4.5 ponits behind Van. Ulrike Graessler was only one at the top. She wanted to take her first World Championship gold medal, but it required a jump around 94.0 meters. Graessler did what she could, but 93.0 meters. Style points between 17.0 and 18.0 points were enough to brake Sagen's 'curse' of being second. In the end Van won, Graessler took silver, Sagen bronze, Iraschko was left without a medal, and phenomenal 13-year-old Mattel finished 5th!!!

TOP 10:
1. Lindsey Van USA 89.0 meters + 97.5 meters, 243.0 points
2. Ulrike Graessler GER 93.5 m + 93.0 m, 239.0 p
3. Anette Sagen NOR 93.5 m + 94.0 m, 238.5 p
4. Daniela Iraschko AUT 89.0 m + 91.0 m, 228.0 p
5. Coline Mattel FRA 90.0 m + 87.5 m, 220.5 p
6. Jessica Jerome USA 80.5 m + 91.0 m, 207.0 p
7. Magdalena Schnurr GER 89.0 m + 81.5 m, 205.0 p
8. Anna Haefele GER 88.5 m + 82.5 m, 204.5 p
9. Line Jahr NOR 88.0 m + 81.5 m, 201.0 p
10. Ayumi Watase JPN 76.5 m + 90.5 m, 197.5 p

The first ever World Championship competition in Ladies' Ski Jumping was done. There were lot's of young jumpers, Coline Mattel as 13-year-old was the youngest. There were also two jumpers from such an exotic country as the Netherlands: Wendy Vuik (23rd), and Lara Thomae (31st). The first competition was such an event that it would get more followers and encourage more ladies to take their skies, and get all the way up to the hill, and start preparing for the future competitions.

All time medal standings, FIS World Championship Ladies' Ski Jumping:
1. the United States of America   1 - -
2. Germany    - 1 -
3. Norway    - - 1

This was the first part of our interesting Resan till Falun 2015 - series. Hopefully you enjoyed it, and will look forward to the next part, Oslo Norway. Enjoy your day! :)

Links:
The official results (PDF-file), World Championships, Ladies' Ski Jumping, Liberec, 2009
Results of the 1st round (PDF-file), World Championships, Ladies' Ski Jumping, Liberec, 2009
Trial Round results (PDF-file), World Championships, Ladies' Ski Jumping, Liberec, 2009
Training rounds' results (PDF-file), World Championship, Ladies' Ski Jumping, Liberec, 2009
Unofficial 1st training round's results (PDF-file), World Championship, Ladies' Ski Jumping, Liberec, 2009
Detailed information about Liberec' HS100

Weekend Analyses of Ladies' Ski Jumping: Chapter 2.3: A short end for Rasnov weekend

Greetings! Now let's take a look at the final day of events in Rasnov:

Sunday, 8th February, 2015 (Trial Round and Competition 2)

The last day in Rasnov was started in overcast conditions with a trial round.Wind was very tricky: 0.74 m/s from behind the hill to 1.32 m/s towards the hill. Starting position was at gate 29. The longest jump of the round was performed yet again by Eva Pinkelnig. Austrian landed at 96.0 meters (-5.1/0.0), finishing first with the total score of 66.9 points. In contrast, the worst achieved distance was 56.0 meters by a Czech Veronika Ptackova with a compensation (-4.2/0.0) and a Romanian Bianca Elena Stefanuta (+3.0/0.0). Sara Takanashi was closest to Pinkelnig's result: 95.0 meters (-6.0/0.0), and 64.0 points in total. Julia Clair was the surprise of the round. 91.0 meters (-2.9/0.0) and 59.1 ponits gave her 3rd place. World Cup leader Iraschko-Stolz flew 89.0 meters (-1.1/0.0), and total score of 56.9 points let her finish 4th. Carina Vogt, Katharina Althaus and Lea Lemare decided to retire from the session, and concentrate fully for the competition.

Conditions got trickier for the first round of the competition: light snowfall with variating wind weren't the best possible combination. Highest amount of wind from behind the hill was 0.48 m/s and towards 1.49 m/s. Starting position remained unchangeable. Michaela Dolezelova couldn't capitalize on the best wind conditions: Czech's 80.5 meters (-9.5/0.0) jump had an unfortunate addition, since she fell before the falling line, and she finished 37 th in the overall results with 60.0 points, Tara Geraghty-Moats from the United States of America did great job: she landed at 93.0 meters (-5.4/0.0), and the jumper with number 11 was 9th after the first round. Geraghty-Moats lead the competition until jumper with number 22: German Juliane Seyfarth equaled Geraghty-Moats' distance 93.0 meters (-6.4/0.0), but with a better landing German took the lead. Her joy lasted until Line Jahr's jump: Norwegian flew 94.5 meters (-2.9/0.0), and scored 115.6 points. Nita Englund sat on the starting bench right after Jahr. She gained 87.9 km/h (54,63 mph), landed at 94.0 meters (-1.7/0.0), scoring 118.3 points, and taking the lead for The United States of America.

TOP10 was yet to jump, Englund was still leading. Russian Irina Avvakumova didn't impress with 91.5 meters (-7.7/0.0), since she was 6th after her jump. Eva Pinkelnig tried to shake the top, but her jump of 96.0 meters (-8.5/0.0) with a horrible landing gave her 4th place after her jump. It seemed like skipping the trial round didn't do good for Althaus: she flew only 87.0 meters (-2.7/0.0), and found herself 19th after the first round. Maja Vtic jumped 3.5 meters more, with compensation (-6.8/0.0) she took 13th position after the first round. Yuki Ito did a decent jump of 93.0 meters (-7.2/0.0), taking 5th after her jump. Jaqueline Seifriedsberger couldn't capitalize on her good conditions either: 89.5 meters (-7.7/0.0), scoring 102.8 points, giving her 18th place of the round. Spela Rogelj flew 90.0 meters (-1.9/0.0), taking 11th after the first round with 109.6 points. Sara Takanashi was the woman to push Englund from the top: 95.0 meters (-1.1/0.0), gathering 121.4 points. Carina Vogt topped the round's velocity competition with 88.6 km/h (55.07 mph), but it didn't give her satisfying distance: 89.0 meters (-1.0/0.0), 51.0 points from style, and 108.0 points in overall. Vogt saw herself 11th after her jump, so skipping the trial round round may have been a mistaken choice. Iraschko-Stolz came from the top of the hill as the last jumper: Austrian landed at 91.5 meters (-0.1/0.0),gathering 116.9 points in total, enough for the 3rd place.

After 1 hour and 41 minutes fight against the wind and slight snowfall, the judges decided it was time to wrap the competition. 1st round's results became official: 1. Takanashi JPN 121.4, 2. Englund USA 118.3, 3. Iraschko-Stolz 116.9, 4. Jahr NOR 115.6, 5. Seyfarth GER 112.1, 6. Pinkelnig AUT 112.0, 7. Ito JPN 111.8, 8. Lundby NOR 110.7, 9. Geraghty-Moats USA 110.1, 10. Rogelj SLO 109.6, 11. Avvakumova RUS 108.3, 12. Vogt 108.0

In the World Cup Standings after 11 competitions TOP3 saw small changes:
1. Iraschko-Stolz AUT 782
2. Takanashi JPN 673
3. Vogt GER 622
4. Rogelj SLO 463
5. Ito JPN 326
6. Seifriedsberger AUT 316
7. Pinkelnig AUT 308
8. Vtic SLO 302
9. Althaus GER 288
10. Englund USA 276


All in all the weekend was a disappointment for Vogt: 8th and 12th weren't the positions she was looking for, so she decided not to participate in Ljubno, and prepare for the World Championships, which start Thursday 19th of February, 2015. Ladies' qualifying is in program, and on Friday we'll find out, who'll be crowned as a World Champion.

Just like last time in Hinzenbach, each day saw a different winner: Friday training rounds for Pinkelnig, Saturday's competition for Iraschko-Stolz and Sunday's smaller competition belonged to Takanashi. TOP3 seems to be pretty secured.

Thank you for reading through the Rasnov weekend. I'll do my best to post about Ljubno's competitions. "Vogt has our support, no matter what are the results!" That'll be second motto of this blog, and the Youtube Channel. Enjoy your day! :)

Links:
Trial Round's results (PDF-file) February 8th, 2015, Rasnov
The official reults of the competition (PDF-file) February 8th, 2015, Rasnov
Complete World Cup Standings (PDF-file) after Rasnov's weekend, 8th February, 2015