Resan till Falun 2015 - Trip to Falun 2015: Part 4: It's here, destination Falun!

Greetings! Our trip near it's end, but let's enjoy this revolutionary post: it is a combination of both Weekend Analyses of Ladies' Ski Jumping, Championship Edition, and Weekend preview of Ladies' Ski Jumping, Championship edition! With a bit over an hour left until the beginning of the Grand Finale, we'll move swiftly to the events of Thursday, 19th of February, and speculate today's results.

Thursday, February 19th, 2015, Falun, Sweden (Training round + Qualification/Trail round)

According to the race program, ladies had a chance to perform two jumps. Due to difficult conditions, jury decided to cancel the trial round, and organize qualification as only event of the day for ladies. First ever qualification of history in World Ski Championships in ladies's ski jumping was started with Virag Voros' jump. 15-year-old Hungarian's flight came to an abrupt end, as she landed at 57.0 meters (-4.4/0.0), scored 30.6 points, and finished 34th. Ulrike Graessler was the first lady to cross 85.0 meters' line: 88.5 meters (-5.1/0.0), and total score of 103.4 points gave her 6th place in the results. Julia Clair took the lead from German by 5.1 points, with a jump of 88.5 meters (-1.0/0.0). Taylor Henrich finished in TOP10 in every Wenesday's training session. Canadian flew 92.0 meters (-1.8/0.0), collected 114.2 points, and was ranked 1st, 5.7 points ahead of Clair. Chiara Hoelzl jumped 88.0 meters (-3.1/0.0), and finished 5th in the results with 103.9 points. Next jumper, Juliane Seyfarth got 4th position as a birthday present, as Seyfarth landed at 89.0 meters (-2.2/0.0), and scored 106.8 points. Norwegian Maren Lundby flew into TOP3, with her jump of 89.0 meters (-1.3/0.0), Lundby scored 108.2 points in total. Wednesday's 6th on both training rounds, Katharina Althaus was ranked 7th with 102.6 points, having jumped 87.0 meters (-2.9/0.0). Last jumper to qualify, was Susanna Forsstroem from Finland.

All of TOP10 jumpers appeared on the hill. Best total score was achieved by Yuki Ito, who flew 89.5 meters (-0.8/0.0), with score of 58.2 points. Carina Vogt's result was also promising: German landed at 87.0 meters (+2.6/0.0), and finished 1.6 points behind Ito. Jacqueline Seifriedsberger finished 3rd by scoring 55.2 points, and a jump of 87.5 meters (+0.2/0.0). Daniela Iraschko-Stolz 87.5 meters (-0.3/0.0), Sara Takanashi 87.0 meters (+0.5/0.0) and Sarah Hendrickson 87.0 meters (+0.4/0.0) 4th, 5th and 6th within 0.3 points! In comparison to previously mentioned jumpers, Taylor Henrich, first ever winner of qualifying in the Championships, gathered from wind and jump 62.2 points in total, so Henrich was the best! On the other hand she had wind towards herself, unlike most of the TOP10 jumpers.

Judging by first four training rounds, there are several candidates to win the World Championship, and finish on podium: World Champion of 2011, and silver medalist from the Olympic Games 2014, Iraschko-Stolz has a lot of experience from pressurizing situations. The defending World Champion from Val di Fiemme, Sarah Hendrickson has improved jump by jump, and she's returning to her best shape. Olympic Champion from Sochi, Carina Vogt, has a habit to show her best in the competitions. Hopefully she'll do that again, but I'm sure that German will get a medal, Championship is also in her reach. Sara Takanashi won twice Overall World Cup standings, and took silver in Val di Fiemme, and has jumped very well in Falun, which makes her also another good canditate for the Championship. Taylor Henrich has shown incredible jumps in Falun, and the win of qualification might have given her some extra which might carry her on podium. Bronze medalist from Val di Fiemme, Jacqueline Seifriedsberger shall not be forgotten, and other possible surprises might be caused by Katharina Althaus, Jessica Jerome, Ulrike Graessler, and Maren Lundby.

Last trial round before the Grand Finale finished about 20 minutes ago, and results were:
1. Ito JPN 94.0 meters, 2 Iraschko-Stolz AUT, 3. Henrich CAN, 4. Hendrickson USA, 5. Taknashi JPN, 6. Vogt GER 91.0 meters, 7. Seifriedsberger AUT. Vogt lost a bit over 6 points to Ito, which means 3-3.5 meters depending on style points. My dream podium is: 1. Vogt GER, 2. Hendirkcson USA, 3. Henrich CAN. Based on the training results, more likely podium, and my eventual choice is: 1. Vogt GER, 2. Ito JPN, 3. Takanashi JPN. Hopefully Vogt will win, or at least finish on podium! Let's enjoy the finale! This is also the conclusion of our journey! It's time to say: Tack för allt! This means, thank you for everything, I wish you very enjoyable World Championships! Don't forget to follow, to find out the results, and detailed information about competitions! Njut av din dag!

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

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