Profiling the Flying Ladies: File 1.3 (her story continues) Carina Vogt: The beginning of World Cup Career, podium, World Championships medal!

Greetings!

It's the third part of Carina Vogt's profile. We'll take a look at her World Cup career in seasons 2011/2012 and 2012/2013, and her debut in the World Championships. I wish you enjoyable reading!





2011/2012 Season:

Unlike in the previous season, Vogt competed during the summer season. On 13th of August, 2011, Vogt finished in 24th, and the next day she achieved her best result in the Summer Continental Cup, as she finished in 12th. Both of the competitions were held in Bischofsgruen, Germany. Three days later, on 18th of August, she participated in a FIS Cup race, in Poehla, Germany. In the results, Vogt was ranked in 11th. 19th and 20th of August, she spent jumping in Oberwiesenthal, Germany. In two Continental Cup competitions, she was 30th and 26th.
   Carina continued her season in winter, which she started on 9th of December, in Notodden Norway. In the first Continental Cup competition, she jumped only once, as she finished in 35th. The next day she was already 25th.
   Less than a month later, Vogt made her World Cup debut in Hinterzarten, Germany. She jumped with a number 3. She landed at 80.0 meters (wind compensation +1.1 points / gate compensation 0.0 p) and scored 79.1 points; 8.6 points separated her from her first World Cup points. Competition lasted only for a round, and it was surprisingly won by Swiss Sabrina Windmueller. Third Ladies' World Cup competition in history was also held in Hinterzarten. Carina jumped with number 2. She flew 90.5 meters (-2.9/0.0) and gathered 97.1 points, and she led the competition until jumper number 10. She waited, and in the results of the first round, Vogt was 26th. On the second round she didn't succeed in a similar way, as a jump of 84.0 meters (-5.5/0.0) dropped her from 26th to 30th, with a total score of 176.6 points, 1.7 points from 29th. On 8th of January, 2012, Carina Vogt achieved her first ever World Cup point.
   Her best result of the season in World Cup competition was achieved on 4th of February. She was preparing for her third World Cup race in Hinzenbach, Austria on HS94 hill. Vogt prepared for her jump: she got the signal, and accelerated to speed of 85.0 km/h (52.828 mph), launched herself into the air, and her skis touched the ground at 84.0 meters (-2.2/0.0) and she scored 108.3 points. She had number 13, and she took the current lead by 7.3 points. After 20, 30 and even 40 jumps, Vogt was still leading. Ulrike Graessler flew 88.5 meters (-4.9/0.0) and got 112.6 points, which meant that jumper 41 was able to beat Vogt, who dropped to current third after Anette Sagen's 88.5 meters (-9.7/0.0). Katja Pozun dropped Carina from podium positions, as Slovenian jumped 90.5 meters (-9.6/0.0). Daniela Iraschko got lucky with the conditions; Austrian flew 96.0 meters (-10.2/0.0) at 1.67 m/s wind from towards. It got Iraschko total score of 123.3 points. World Cup leader, Sarah Hendrickson, prepared as a number 48. Her coach decided to play it safe, and drop the gate from position 13 to 11. Hendrickson started her jump with +4.8 points, which meant that she had to jump around 94.0 meters in similar conditions as Iraschko. Hendrickson flew 91.5 meters (-9.7/+4.8), but her points in style made it tighter. Hendrickson took second place after the first round, only 0.7 points behind Iraschko. Apparently, wind got stronger, which made second round impossible, and the results of the first round became official. TOP10: 1. Iraschko AUT 123.3 points , 2. Hendrickson USA 122.6 p, 3. Pozun SLO 114.4 p, 4. Graessler GER 112.6, 5. Sagen NOR 110.8, 6. Vogt GER 108.3, 7. Van USA 106.1, 8. Rogelj SLO 105.8, 9.Wuerth GER 105.6, 10. Vtic SLO 104.2. Vogt must have been very happy with the results.
   The next day in Hinzenbach, she finished in 13th. Next two competitions were held a week later in Ljubno, Slovenia, where the German finished in 27th and 19th. Then she had a pause, to prepare for the FIS Junior Ski World Championships.
   On 23rd of February, 2012, in Erzurum, Turkey, ladies jumped for the medals. Wind and gate factors weren't used in the competition, even though the wind changed quite a bit: from 0.2 m/s from behind up to even 1.2 m/s towards on the first round. On the second round it altered between 0.5 m/s from behind to 1.8 m/s towards! Vogt probably didn't even worry about it much. With number 39, she gained the best speed of the round, 90.9 km/h (56.495 mph), launched herself into the air, and landed at 102.5 meters. With 131.0 points, Vogt took current 2nd, only one point behind Coline Mattel, who had jumped 103.0 meters with number 38. Hendrickson took the lead, as she flew 105.0 meters and got 137.0 points. Her result was equaled in points by Sara Takanashi, even though the Japanese jumper jumped 108.5 meters. After the first round, Vogt was 4th, only one point from medal and six points from the gold. On the second round, Italian Evelyn Insam flew 101.0 meters, and set pressure for the remaining for jumpers. Vogt was the first jumper giving her answer. Once again top speed, 90.2 km/s (56.060 mph), good height, and her flight ended at 100.0 meters. She had 6.0 points gap over Insam, and 100.0 meters was enough. Vogt scored 255.5 points in total. Mattel had jump 100.0 meters to beat the German, but French jumper failed by jumping 93.0 meters, and gathering 241.0 points. Carina Vogt was a medalist, but the leaders decided the color. Hendrickson did a good jump. She took the lead, but 100.5 meters seemed a bit too short for the gold. Takanashi proved that, as Japanese jumper landed at 107.5 meters, and took the Junior World Championship. TOP6: 1. Sara Takanashi JPN 276.5 points, 2. Sarah Hendrickson USA 265.0, 3. Carina Vogt GER 255.5 p, 4. Evelyn Insam ITA 251.5 p, 5. Spela Rogelj SLO 250.0 p, 6. Coline Mattel FRA 241.0 p. Carina Vogt took her first ever Junior World Championships medal in her fourth and final attempt. It must have been a nice and relieving medal. It wasn't over yet, as two days later, Carina Vogt got silver Ramona Straub, Svenja Wuerth and Katharina Althaus, in ladies' team event. Gold went to Japan by 119.5 points! Germans finished 25.0 points ahead of Slovenians, who took bronze medals. Two medals in her final Junior World Championships; great job, Carina!

Individual podium from the left: Carina Vogt, Sara Takanashi and Sarah Hendrickson. Erzurum, Turkey, 23rd of February, 2012.

Podium from team event, from the left: Slovenia, Japan and Germany. Erzurum, Turkey, 25th of February, 2012.

     Ladies' World Cup season's final three competitions for Vogt, were held in Zao, Japan. She finished in 25th, 23rd and 26th. Due to those finishing positions, she wasn't chosen for the World Cup finale in Oslo. In the first ever edition of Ladies' World Cup, Carina Vogt was 27th in the overall cup with 96 points, after participating in 9 of 13 competitions. World Cup was won by Sarah Hendrickson, who gathered 1169 points. 2nd place for Iraschko with 779 points, and 3rd for Takanashi with 639 points. In Continental Cup, Vogt was ranked 66th with 6 points, by jumping in 2 of 7 competitions.
  For the first time in her career, Carina succeeded better in FIS Junior Ski World Championships than in the overall cups. It came across as she got the highest peak of the shape at the most important moment. That feature would be very crucial for the future. She could look forward with optimism.

2012/2013 Season:

Vogt had a very nice summer season. For the first time arranged summer Grand Prix, she concluded in 4th with 154 points! She started competitions with 6th place in Courchevel, France. Two days later, on 17th of August, 2012, Vogt took her first ever podium in Grand Prix competition. On the first round she flew on Hinterzarten's HS108 hill 97.5 meters (+0.7/0.0), and she was 2nd with 119.2 points. On the second round Takanashi succeeded by jumping 99.5 meters (+1.9/0.0), which helped her to overtake Jacqueline Seifriedsberger. TOP2 were remaining; Vogt flew 96.5 meters (+2.2/0.0), and got 237.9 points in total, which gave her current 2nd. Daniela Iraschko was in her own class, as Austrian flew 99.0 meters (+2.5/0.0), and on the second round 103.0 meters (+0.9/0.0). TOP6: 1. Iraschko AUT 259.4 points, 2. Takanashi JPN 239.9 p, 3. Vogt GER 237.9 p, 4. Seifriedsberger AUT 235.0 p, 5. Iwabuchi JPN 230.2 p, 6. Pozun SLO 230.0 p. The next day, Germany finished in third in mixed team event. Their squad was Graessler, Vogt, Richard Freitag and Andreas Wank. Germans scored 967.2 points. Austrians won with 1026.9 points, followed by Japan, 1000.8 points. In two competitions in Almaty, Vogt was 7th and 14th. In the overall standings, she lost podium by 26 points. She seemed to be well prepared for the winter.

Podium in Hinterzarten, Germany, Grand Prix competition, from the left: Takanashi, Iraschko, Vogt. 17th of August, 2012.

Vogt began winter season with a mixed team event, which wasn't Vogt's best competition, as she jumped 68.0 meters (+4.9/0.0) and 82.0 meters (+1.3/0.0) from Lillerhammer's HS100 hill. Despite her difficult jumps, Germany finished in 4th, 24.3 points from podium. The next, she was like a whole different jumper: on the first round, Vogt flew 100.0 meters (-1.7/0.0), but even though the second longest jump of the round, she was 8th after the first round due to her worse points from style. In comparison, Insam jumped 103.0 meters (-4.6/0.0), and was fourth after the first round. Sarah Hendrickson was leading with a jump of 98.5 meters (-3.5/+4.8), 6.0 points ahead of Vogt. On the second round, Carina Vogt landed at 99.5 meters (0.0/-4.8), longest jump of the round, and gathered 256.0 points. 7th, 6th, 5th and 4th jumpers after the first round couldn't beat her. Takanashi flew 98.0 meters (+1.3/0.0), and took the lead by 9.2 points. Anette Sagen jumped 97.0 meters (+0.8/-4.8) and Norwegian took current 2nd. Hendrickson's coach decided to drop the starting gate for the jumper from the United States. Gamble didn't work out perfectly, as Hendrickson landed at 95.0 meters (+1.1/0.0), and got 261.4 points in total. TOP6: 1. Takanashi JPN 265.2 points, 2. Hendrickson USA 261.4 p, 3. Sagen NOR 258.9 p, 4. Vogt GER 256.0 p, 5. Insam ITA 255.3 p, 6. Iraschko AUT 250.8 p. Great competition for Carina after the mixed team event.
   The next two competitions were held in Sochi, Russia.So called pre-Olympic competitions went quite well from Vogt, who was 8th and 5th. A week later, in Ramsau, Austria, she took 10th place.  Less than a month later, in Schonach, she took positions 8 and 12. Vogt concluded German 'tournee' with two 9th places in Hinterzarten. Two of four Japanese World Cup competitions were held in Sapporo. In the first one she was 20th, but in the second one back in TOP10, finishing in 9th.
   The first competition in Zao, turned out to be a happy one for Carina Vogt. On the first round, current TOP4 jumpers were in their own league. Vogt began the group by landing at 89.0 meters (-2.9/0.0) and scoring 107.6 points. Seifriedsberger flew 88.0 meters (-2.0/0.0), and took current 2nd with 105.0 points. Hendrickson didn't beat Vogt either. Hendrickson jumped 88.0 meters (-1.3/0.0), but was only 0.4 points behind the German. Takanashi took the things to her own level with a bit of luck; 95.5 meters (-8.8/0.0), and total score 114.2 points gave her 6.6 points' lead. On the second round, Seifriedsberger had luck with winds, as she flew 92.5 meters (-8,5/0.0). Wind got lighter for Hendrickson, who landed at 85.0 meters (-3.3/0.0). Wind almost stopped for Vogt, who jumped 85.0 meters (-1.5/0.0) as well. She took current 2nd. Like magic, wind got stronger for Takanashi, who flew 93.5 meters (-6.2/0.0) and took the win. The most important fact was that Carina Vogt took her first ever World Cup podium, excellent job from her! TOP5: 1. Takanashi JPN 228.0 p, 2. Seifriedsberger AUT 212.0 p, 3. Vogt GER 207.1 p, 4. Hendrickson USA 205.4 p, 5. Jerome USA 197.5 p. On the second day, Vogt finished in fourth on her 21st birthday. Two solid jumps of 92.0 meters (-8.4/0.0) and 91.0 meters (-10.9/0.0) brought her 212.2 points in total, 10.4 points from podium.




























Podium of the first World Cup competition in Zao, Japan, from the left: Seifriedsberger, Takanashi, Vogt. 9th of February, 2013.

Next time Vogt competed for the first time in her career in the World Championships, which were held in Val di Fiemme. On 22nd of February, 2013, gaining good speed was problematic, which forced the jury to raise the starting position from 21 to 23 after 28 jumpers. Carina Vogt flew 99.5 meters (-2.2/-6.2) on the first round, and took the current lead with 115.6 points. She was overtaken by Seifriedsberger, who jumped 104.0 meters (-3.6/-6.2). Mattel landed between them with a jump of 102.0 meters (-5.1/-6.2). Hendrickson flew on the HS line; 106.0 meters (-5.4/-6.2), got 127.4 points and took the lead from Seifriedsberger by 8.7 points. Takanashi couldn't take the lead, as she jumped 104.5 meters (-1.7/-6.2) and achieved 124.1 points. On the second round, Jessica Jerome threw a slight challenge by flying 98.0 meters (-4.9/0.0). Vogt topped the speed rankings with 88.7 km/h (55.127 mph), launched herself into the air, and landed at 96.0 meters (-5.7/0.0). The points from style were very important, and 1.5 points more from style helped Vogt to steal the lead by 0.5 points! Mattel jumped 95.5 meters (-5.2/0.0), but her advantage after the first round was enough to take current 1st. Seifriedsberger was the first jumper to secure her medal: 98.5 meters (-1.5/0.0) and total score of 237,2 points gave her the lead. TOP2 was yet to jump. Takanashi flew 103.0 meters (-3.1/0.0) and gathered 251.0 points. Hendrickson couldn't jump much less. Her skis touched the ground at 103.0 meters (-6.7/0.0). Jumper from the United States of America got 253.7 points, and won the World Championship. TOP6: 1. Sarah Hendrickson USA 253.7 p, 2. Sara Takanashi JPN 251.0 p, 3. Jacqueline Seifriedsberger AUT 237.2 p, 4. Coline Mattel FRA 229.5 p, 5. Carina Vogt GER 225.4 p, 6. Jessica Jerome USA 224.9 p.
   Solid 5th place was a good debut for Carina Vogt, but she didn't have to leave the Championships empty handed. February 24th, 2013, first ever mixed team event at World Championships was organized. Vogt was in the team, and she thanked for that by jumping 95.5 meters (+6.2/0.0) and 98.0 meters (+2.1/0.0) and gathering 239.8 points in total. Japan won the competition with 1011.0 points, Austria was 2nd with 986.7 points, followed by Germany (Graessler, Freitag, Vogt, Freund), who got 984.9 points. 5th and bronze: great World Championships debut for Vogt!


























Bronze team from the left: Freund, Graessler, Vogt, Freitag.

Two World Cup competitions were waiting for female jumpers after the World Championships. Both of them were held in Norway. The first one in Trondheim, Vogt finished in 10th. The last competition was the first one for ladies, which was organized on a large hill. It took place in Oslo at HS134 Holmenkollbakken. On the first round, Vogt flew 124.0 meters (-12.5/0.0), and was 7th with 108.2 points. On the second round, Mattel went from 8th to 4th with a flight of 124.0 meters (-6.0/0.0). Vogt concluded her World Cup season by jumping 122.5 meters (-4.6/0.0) and her total score of 216.1 was enough for current 2nd. Seifriedsberger took the lead from French jumper, as Austrian flew 125.5 meters (+0.4/0.0) and scored 233.9 points. Katja Pozun and Lindsey Van couldn't cross the K-points' 120.0 meters' line, and they didn't beat competition's current TOP3. Runggaldier dropped Vogt from podium, because Italian jumped 116.5 meters (-2.6/0.0), and acheived 217.4 points in total. Takanashi destroyed Seifriedsberger from the lead, as she landed at 133.5 meters (-3.9/0.0) and beat Austrian by 26.9 points! Hendrickson remained unbeatable, as she won the World Championships, competition in Trondheim and also the finale. Hendrickson's skis touched the ground at 129.0 meters (-1.2/0.0) and brought her 130.5 points, which meant 262.8 points in total. TOP6: 1. Hendrickson USA 262.8 p, 2. Takanashi JPN 260.8 p, 3. Seifriedsberger AUT 233.9 p, 4. Mattel FRA 221.5 p, 5. Runggaldier ITA 217.4 p, 6. Vogt GER 216.1 p.
   Very nice final competition. In the overall standings, Vogt was 7th with 481 points, 18 points from 6th.World Cup belonged to Takanashi, who collected 1297 points, followed by Hendrickson with 1047. Third place for Mattel, who got 823 points. Vogt participated 12 of 14 competitions. Her season was great: first World Cup podium, first World Championships medal, and TOP10 finish in overall World Cup. She was looking forward to the future seasons.

This has been the third part. Due to very action-packed 2013/2014 and 2014/2015 seasons', I have to make one more part that it wouldn't make too much reading for one post. Hopefully you enjoyed it, and remain patient. Enjoy your day, remember to follow to see the fourth part, where we'll also take a look at the future!

Links (sources and social media):

Carina Vogt, basic information
The previous part of Carina Vogt's story
Picture of Carina Vogt used in the beginning
Wikipedia article about Carina Vogt (German)
Individual podium from FIS Junior World Championships 2012, Erzurum, Turkey
Team podium from FIS Junior World Championships, 2012, Erzurum, Turkey
Podium from summer Grand Prix, 2012, Hinterzarten, Germany
Podium from World Cup, 2013, Zao, Japan
Bronze team from mixed team event World Championships, 2013, Val die Fiemme, Italy
Carina Vogt's fan page on Facebook
Carina Vogt's profile on fis-ski.com

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! :)