Historical Weekend Analyses of Ladies' Ski Jumping: Chapter 4: Oslo's finale - Takanashi's hat-trick completed

Greetings!

It's time for the last Weekend Analyses of Ladies' Ski Jumping for 2014/2015 season. Almost a month of waiting came to it's end yesterday. This time I won't go through all the sessions detail by detail. Short summary of two training rounds will lead us to the trial round, and the final competition.

Friday, March 13th, 2015, Holmenkollen, Oslo, Norway (Training rounds + Trial round + Finale) :

Two training rounds were held on Friday morning. Sunny weather, and mostly good wind from towards gave great conditions for practice jumps. Starting gate was set altered from position 28 to 30, and 29, and then back to 30. There were 32 competitiors, as the host country, Norway, had a right to give two of their jumpers a chance to participate, 30 remaining competitiors earned the right by being in TOP30 after 12 competitions.
     First round's jumps weren't on the highest level: longest jump was 122.5 meters (-13.7/0.0) by Taylor Henrich, but the shortest jump was 89.0 meters (-10.1/0.0) by Anna Odine Stroem. The most interesting battles were for World Cup's 1st and 3rd place. In the battle for 3rd position, Spela Rogelj jumped 112.0 meters (-3.2/+3.3), while Carina Vogt flew 108.5 meters (-0.2/+3.3). Sara Takanashi landed at 116.0 meters (-3.7/+3.3), and Daniela Iraschko-Stolz 115.5 meters (-1.3/+3.7). Yuki Ito was the best jumper of the round: 117.5 meters (-2.5/+3.3), and a total score of 56.3. Iraschko-Stolz was 2nd, 53.9, followed surprisingly by a Finn Julia Kykkaenen, with a score of 53.8 points. Julia Clair was 4th, Sara Takanashi 5th, Taylor Henrich 6th, Spela Rogelj 8th and Carina Vogt 14th.
   On the second round, some of the jumpers had to manage a slight wind from behind. Round's longest jump, and the best points belonged to Slovenian Maja Vtic: 128.0 meters (-11.8/0.0) and 62.6 points. In contrast, Katja Pozun flew only 96.5 meters (+1.4/0.0). Rogelj jumped better than Vogt: Rogelj flew 120.0 meters (-10.5/0.0), and Vogt landed at 117.0 meters (-14.5/0.0). Rogelj's score 49.5 were enough for 7th place, Vogt was 16th with 40.1 points. Takanashi came in second: 127.0 meters (-12.9/0.0), and 59.7 points gave her 2nd place. Iraschko-Stolz flew 122.5 meters (-10.1/0.0), scored 54.4, and finished in 4th. 3rd position was achieved by Jacqueline Seifriedsberger, who jumped 123.5 meters (-7.5/0.0), and got 58.8 points. Takanashi, and Iraschko-Stolz seemed strong.

Training rounds' full results (PDF-file), Holmenkollen HS134, Oslo

Trial round [Gate 31, gate 32 (-3.3 points), gate 30 (+3.3 p), Wind: 0.65 m/s from behind (+7.8 p) to 0.74 m/s towards (-7.3 p)] :

Evening's sky was clear, as ladies prepared for their last trial round of the season. All the jumps were above 95.0 meters, shortest jump belonged to Anna Odine Stroem: 95.5 meters (+7.8/0.0), but the worst wind conditions explain partly the result. The first jumper over 120.0 meters was Taylor Henrich, who landed at 120.5 meters (+3.2/0.0). Norwegians Maren Lundby jumped 120.5 meters (-1.1/-3.3), and Line Jahr's flight ended at 120.0 meters (-4.3/-3.3). Longest jump of the round was perfomed by Sarah Hendrickson: Hendrickson flew 128.0 meters (-3.0/-3.3), and the total score of 68.1 brought her the 1st position. Maja Vtic kept proving her strong form: Slovenian jumped 118.5 meters (+1.2/+3.3), and came in 4th. Yuki Ito finished 3rd, as Japanese jumper flew 116.5 meters (+6.6/+3.3). Spela Rogelj also landed at 116.5 meters (+3.4/+3.3), and gathered 60.4 points. Carina Vogt improved from the morning, as the German flew 118.0 meters (+3.6/+3.3), scored 64.2 points, and finished 2nd. Sara Takanashi got into a bit more challenging conditions, but she managed to fly 115.0 meters (+6.0/+3.3). Daniela Iraschko-Stolz jumped 116.0 meters (+5.4/+3.3), and total score of 61.5 brought Austrian 5th place. Jacqueline Seifriedsberger didn't participate.
TOP8: 1. Hendrickson USA 68.1, 2. Vogt GER 64.2, 3. Ito JPN 63.6, 4. Vtic SLO 61.8, 5. Iraschko-Stolz AUT 61.5, 6. Henrich CAN 60.8, 7. Rogelj SLO 60.4, 8. Takanashi JPN 60.3

Trial round's full results (PDF-file), Holmenkollen, Oslo

Finale, final competition:

Based on the training rounds and trail round, there were many candidates for the win: Sara Takanashi, Daniela Iraschko-Stolz, Maja Vtic, Yuki Ito, Taylor Henrich, Sarah Hendrickson, and perhaps Carina Vogt. There was also room for surprises: Julia Kykkaenen, Julia Clair, and Jacqueline Seifriedsberger could mix the TOP6 order, if everything went the way they hope. Now, let's go to the first round.

First round [Gate 32, Wind: 0.50 m/s from behind (+6.0 p)  to 0.13 m/s towards (-1.3 p)] :

Skies remained clear, as the final competition of the season was about to begin. Wind didn't alter much, but some jumpers got slight wind towards. Number 1 belonged to Anna Odine Stroem. Young lady from Alta, Norway, jumped 98.0 meters (+4.2/0.0), and her total score of 68.6 was unlikely to bring her a chance for the second round. Julia Kykkaenen proved that her 3rd position on the first training round wasn't purely luck: she flew 119.5 meters (+1.4/0.0), and scored 112.0 points. Finn jumped with number 6, and she kept her lead, until Jessica Jerome. Jumper from the United States of America landed at 120.5 meters (+4.0/0.0), and gathered 114.4 in total. Jerome couldn't enjoy for her 1st place for long: Canadian Taylor Henrich, launched herself into the air, and her skies didn't touch the ground until she had flown 127.0 meters (+1.0/0.0). She beat Jerome by 10.2 points. Austrian Chiara Hoelzl joined Stroem's under 100 meters' club: 98.5 meters (+1.4/0.0), and she didn't qualify for the second round, with a score of 70.2; last jumper to qualify was Yuka Seto, who jumped 101.0 meters (-1.1/0.0), and scored 71.7 points. It was quite surprising, since Jerome's start number was 15, Henrich's 16, and Hoelzl's 17. After 22 jumpers of 32, Henrich was leading, followed by Jerome and Kykkaenen.

Sarah Hendrickson started TOP10 group: she was the lady to beat Henrich: Hendrickson flew 126.5 meters (+3.2/0.0) and gathered 126.4 points. Nita Englund wasn't even close to her team mate Hendrickson, as Englund landed as early as at 108.0 meters (+1.1/0.0), and was 25th after the first round. Jacqueline Seifriedsberger jumped 118.5 meters (+3.4/0.0), and took current 4th. Maja Vtic flew once again over the K-point: 123.5 meters (+3.7/0.0), and her total score of 122.5 got her 4th place after the first round. Eva Pinkelnig was 13th with a jump of 118.5 meters (+2.6/0.0). Yuki Ito had the strongest average wind from behind, and Japanese jumper landed at 117.5 meters (+6.0/0.0). Ito scored 114.5 points. Spela Rogelj had to take current 1st place to have some sort of hope to take bronze in the World Cup. Slovenian jumped 119.5 meters (+3.8/0.0), and she took current 7th. Carina Vogt's task got a bit easier: Vogt topped the lists with a speed of 94.1 km/h (58,484 mph), and she crossed 120.0 meters for the first time, since German flew 125.0 meters (+0.7/0.0). Vogt scored 121.2 in total, and was current 4th. Sara Takanashi had even bigger mission: to complete it, she couldn't be lower than 1st: she did her part by flying 128.0 meters (+5.9/0.0), and scoring 131.3 points. Daniela Iraschko-Stolz had to finish in TOP20, and it required from her on the first round higher score than 93.1 points. It was easy for Iraschko-Stolz, who got the biggest minus points from compensation: Austrian jumped 125.0 meters (-1.3/0.0), and scored 114.2, which was enough for 8th position. Anna Odine Stroem and Chiara Hoelzl didn't qualify, and TOP3 was Takanashi, Hendrickson and Henrich.
TOP15: 1. Takanashi JPN 131.3, 2. Hendrickson USA 126.4, 3. Henrich CAN 124.6, 4. Vtic SLO 122.5, 5.  Vogt GER 121.2, 6. Ito JPN 114.5, 7. Jerome USA 114.4, 8. Iraschko-Stolz AUT 114.2, 9. Seifriedsberger AUT 112.7, 10. Rogelj SLO 112.1, 11. Kykkaenen FIN 112.0, 12. Lundby NOR 111.9, 13. Pinkelnig AUT 109.9, 14. Avvakumova RUS 104.7, 15. Graessler GER 98.4

Second round, final round of the season [Gate 32, Wind: 0.67 m/s from behind (+8.0) to 0.04 m/s towards (-0.4)] :

The final round of the 2014/2015 season in Ladies' Ski Jumping World Cup was held under clear skies, and begun by Yuka Seto. Seto jumped 100.5 meters (+2.2/0.0), and Japanese jumper's total score of 142.8 gave her 30th place in the results, and it was 11.5 points more than Sara Takanashi had collected on the first round! Sofia Tikhonova got a small advantage from the best conditions of the round: 114.5 meters (-0.4/0.0), and Russian got from 21st to 18th. The biggest climb of the round was five positions, and for the crowd's, it was done by Line Jahr. Norwegian flew 115.0 meters (+2.6/0.0), and scored 198.6 points, which got her from 20th to 15th in the results. Irina Avvakumova took the lead from Jahr: Russian flew 117.5 meters (+7.6/0.0), and gathered 217.8 points. She didn't enjoy the lead for long, as Pinkelnig had the worst conditions of the round, she landed at 117.5 meters (+8.0/0.0), and her total score was 221.4 points. Lundby couldn't beat the Austrian: Lundby jumped 115.0 meters (+4.6/0.0), scored 217.5 points, and finished in 13th as the best Norwegian of the day. Julia Kykkaenen finished her season in a good style: 118.0 meters (+4.1/0.0), and her score of 222.2 gave her the current lead. After 20 jumpers, TOP3 was: Kykkaenen, Pinkelnig and Avvakumova.

TOP10 started with Spela Rogelj's jump. Slovenian needed a miracle to finish in TOP3 in this season's World Cup: Rogelj did her best, but 118.0 meters (+3.7/0.0) gave her 'only 2.0 points lead over Kykkaenen, whcih wasn't quite enough to make a major climb. Jacqueline Seifriedsberger dropped to 14th, because Austrian landed at 112.5 meters (+4.1/0.0), and scored 212.3 points in total. Iraschko-Stolz prepared for her final jump of the season. Austrian had to jump about 70 meters to secure her World Cup victory: she flew 123.0 meters (+5.4/0.0), and got 237.0 points in total: Austrian won the Overall World Cup. Jerome didn't stay in TOP10: 28-year-old jumper jumped 116.0 meters (+5.3/0.0), and 220.5 points brought 11th position in the results. Ito flew 117.0 meters (+4.0/0.0), and scored 24.6, which dropped Rogelj to current 3rd. Vogt prepared for her last World Cup jump of the season: Vogt gained 94.0 km/h (58,421 mph), which equaled Avvakumova's result. German flew in the air, and her skies didn't touch the ground until 121.0 meters (+4.0/0.0). Vogt for the result, got 239.5 points! She took the lead, secured 3rd place in the World Cup, and now it was all about waiting, whether Vogt be on podium. Vtic did decent job, as Slovenian jumped 118.5 meters (+4.8/0.0), and finished sixth in the final competition. Henrich didn't waist her opportunity for podium: Canadian flew 123.5 meters (+6.0/0.0), and Henrich took the lead by 10.9 points. Hendrickson wanted to her first win since March 2013, which was also from Holmenkollen. Jumper from the United States pushed herself of the starting bench, she equaled Vogt and Avvakumova in speed, and Hendrickson launched herself into the air. Hendrickson achieved the longest distance of the competition: 128.5 meters (+4.4/0.0) gave her 130.7 points, and 257.1 in total. Hendrickson was leading, and Takanashi didn't have an easy task. Japanese jumper didn't have much pressure, as the World Cup dream was gone, but Takanashi completed her hat-trick by jumping 127.0 meters (+6.4/0.0), scoring 132.5 points, the highest amount on the second round as well. Takanashi won by 6.7 points.
TOP15: 1. Takanashi JPN 263.8, 2. Hendrickson USA 257.1, 3. Henrich CAN 250.4, 4. Vogt GER 239.5, 5. Iraschko-Stolz AUT 237.0, 6. Vtic SLO 233.6, 7. Ito JPN 224.6, 8. Rogelj SLO 224.2, 9. Kykkaenen FIN 222.2, 10. Pinkelnig AUT 221.4, 11. Jerome USA 220.5, 12. Avvakumova RUS 217.8, 13. Lundby NOR 217.5, 14. Seifriedsberger AUT 212.3, 15. Jahr NOR 198.6

It was quite an exciting competition, and the results ment slight changes in TOP20 of Ladies' Ski Jumping World Cup standings (Final Standings) :
1. Daniela Iraschko-Stolz   AUT   1007 poinys
2. Sara Takanashi   JPN   973 p   -34 p
3. Carina Vogt   GER   672 p   -335 p
4. Spela Rogelj   SLO   581 p   -426 p
5. Yuki Ito   JPN   434 p   -573 p
6. Maja Vtic   SLO   418 p   -589 p
7. Eva Pinkelnig   AUT   408 p   -599p
8. Sarah Hendrickson   USA   399 p   -608 p
9. Jacqueline Seifriedsberger   AUT   370 p   -637 p
10. Nita Englund   USA   332 p   -675 p
11. Irina Avvakumova   RUS   315 p   -692 p
12. Line Jahr   NOR   306 p   -701 p
13. Katharina Althaus   GER   299 p   -708 p
14. Maren Lundby   NOR   289 p   -718 p
15. Taylor Henrich   CAN   230 p   -777 p
16. Juliane Seyfarth   GER   222p   -785 p
17. Chiara Hoelzl   AUT   185 p   -822 p
18. Jessica Jerome   USA   168 p   -839 p
19. Sofia Tikhonova   RUS   154 p   -853 p
20. Julia Clair   FRA   151 p   -856 p

Iraschko-Stolz took deserved Overall World Cup victory, by winning 5 competitions, but especially finishing only three times outside the podium: 4th in Sapporo, 8th in Zao and 5th in Oslo. Sara Takanashi was the best jumper by winning 6 competitions, but finishing in 7th in Zao, 5th in Oberstdorf, and 8th in Hinzenbach, was too much. Carina Vogt took two victories this season, first victory ever, and she finished 6 times on podium, but she was absent from Ljubno. Also Spela Rogelj was capable of winning a competition, the season opener in Lillerhammer. There were 13 competitions, but Iraschko-Stolz and Takanashi were equally first in Ljubno's second competition. Hendrickson finished the season with a train of podiums, but win would have raised her on 6th place in the standings. Other jumpers, who finished on podium during the season, were Englung, Avvakumova, Lundby, Henrich and Hoelzl. Henrich participated only in 5 competitions due to financial restrictions, which gives her average of 46 points/competition: that's admirable!

In conclusion, I must say that it was quite a long season, as was also my last Weekend Analyses. What makes it historical, is that this is the last post of Carina Vogt's Fanclub: don't worry, this blog will continue its functioning under a new name, starting on Monday, 16th of March. Thank you for this World Cup season, I apologize for this horrifically long post, but there were so many things to take into account. Hopefully you enjoyed the reports, and will look forward to the new phase of this blog. Click the Follow-button, to find out about this blog's future, it will be very much appreciated: you won't miss the latest action from the world of ladies ski jumping! Enjoy your day! :)

Final World Cup Standings Individual, Ladies Ski Jumping 2014/2015 (PDF-file)
Final World Cup Standings Nations, Ladies Ski Jumping 2014/2015 (PDF-file)
The official results of the 2014/2015 finale, FIS Ladies Ski Jumping, Holmenkollen, Oslo, Norway (PDF-file)
Results after the first round, FIS Ladies Ski Jumping, March 13th, 2015, Holmenkollen, Oslo Norway (PDF-file)

30th post of the blog: Weekend Preview of Ladies' Ski Jumping: Chapter 4: All roads lead to Oslo (Holmenkollen)

Greetings!

This is the last Weekend Preview of the 2014/2015 season. Let's get straight to the preview, as the season finale is less than 24 hours away from now.

Oslo's Holmenkollbakken HS134 hill is different from all the hills, which we've seen this season: the largest hill so far was at Oberstdorf, HS106. To take victory, jumps altered between 85 and 105 meters, and now these female jumpers must adjust to the large hill. Last season's winner, Sara Takanashi jumped 132.0 meters and 128.5 meters. It takes more courage to reach those distances, not forgetting the technique, and good conditions. Ladies' hill record belongs to Takanashi, 134.0 meters from 17th of March, 2013.

Let's take a closer look for the previous season's results:
1. Sara Takanashi   JPN   132.0 meters + 128.5 meters  = 257.6 points
2. Katja Pozun   SLO   122.0 m + 122.5 m  = 218.5 p
3. Yuki Ito   JPN   122.5 m + 125.0 m  = 216.2 p
4. Irina Avvakumova   RUS   120.0 m + 121.5 m  = 209.1 p
5. Taylor Henrich   CAN   117.0 m + 121.5 m  = 207.7 p
6. Maja Vtic   SLO   117.5 m + 123.0 m = 207.2 p
7. Maren Lundby   NOR   122.5 m + 115.0 m  = 206.3 p
8. Gyda Enger   NOR   124.0 m + 115.5 m  = 206.1 p
9. Line Jahr   NOR   114.5 m + 120.0 m  = 204.5 p
10. Jessica Jerome   USA   118.0 m + 117.0 m  = 203.2 p

There are some interesting things to note: Carina Vogt, Daniela Iraschko-Stolz and Sarah Hendrickson didn't participate. There were only 30 competitiors, which might mean that the finale has the same rules as men's competition: only TOP30 of current World Cup competitors are allowed to participate. One side also is that the average age of TOP3 was less than 20 years, so young jumpers might be in better position, as they probably have more courage to fly as far as possible. Let's move on to the contemporary situation.

Latest competitions were organized in Falun, World Championships, HS100 hill. Carina Vogt won, Daniela Iraschko-Stolz was 2nd, Yuki Ito 3rd and Sara Takanashi 4th. They probably will be fighting for the win. We shouldn't also forget Sarah Hendrickson, Slovenian Vtic & Rogelj, Maren Lundby and Taylor Henrich. World Cup will conclude, but it's not yet for sure, who'll win the Overall Cup. Standings are quite interesting:
1. D. Iraschko-Stolz   AUT   962
2. S. Takanashi   JPN   873   -89
3. C. Vogt   GER   622   -340
4. S. Rogelj   SLO   549   -413
5. Y. Ito   JPN   398   -564
6. E. Pinkelnig   AUT   382   -580
7. M. Vtic   SLO   378   -584
8. J. Seifriedsberger   AUT  352   -610
9. N. Englund   USA   324   -638
10. S. Hendrickson   USA   319   -643
11. I. Avvakumova   RUS   293   -669
12. L. Jahr   NOR   290   -672
13. K. Althaus   GER   288   -675
14. M. Lundby   NOR   269   -693
15. J. Seyfarth   GER   215   -747
...
17. T. Henrich   CAN   170   -792
19. S. Tikhonova   RUS   141   -821

1st place will be either for Iraschko-Stolz or Takanashi. Vogt and Rogelj will finish in TOP4. Ito, Pinkelnig, Vtic and perhaps Seifriedsberger will fight for 5th. Hendrickson might finish 8th, and Avvakumova must watch out for Jahr, Althaus and Lundby.

Main points to watch in the finale (World Cup wise) :
- Takanashi needs a win, and Iraschko-Stolz can't finish higher than 21st
- Vogt needs at least 9th position to secure 3rd place in the standings
- Battle for 5th will be tough: - Ito and Vtic might be the biggest candidates
- Does Hendrickson become the best jumper from the United States, and finish maybe in 8th?
- Who'll be 11th?

Takanashi's overall win is unlikely, as Iraschko-Stolz hasn't been lower than 8th this season - and there are definetly other candidates for the win: Vogt, Rogelj, Vtic, Hendrickson, Lundby and Henrich, perhaps even Vtic. It'll be also interesting to see, how far will ladies jump.

My TOP3 prediction for the competition: 1. Hendrickson, 2. Takanashi, 3. Vogt.

My TOP6 prediction for the World Cup: 1. Iraschko-Stolz, 2. Takanashi, 3. Vogt, 4. Rogelj, 5. Ito, 6. Vtic

All in all, the finale will be very interesting; don't miss it! The finale starts at 17:00 GMT+1, local time as well. This was quite a preview: hopefully you found some interesting points for the competition. Thank you very much, enjoy your day, and the season finale! :)

Weekend Analyses of Ladies' Ski Jumping: Chapter 3.3: Two winners in one competition! Ljubno's second competition is tight!!!

Greetings!

It's time for the last part of Ljubno's weekend analyses. After quite an expected podium, viewers want to see some surprises, especially Slovenian had higher hopes for their local heroes: Maja Vtic and Spela Rogelj. Let's jump into the events of Sunday, 15th of February.

Sunday, February 15th, 2015 (Qualification/Trial Round + Competition 2)

As usual, second competition's qualifying was organized just a moment before the actual competition.

Qualification [Gate 11, Wind: 0.14 m/s (+1.0 points) from behind to 0.22 m/s towards (-1.3 p)] :

Wind conditions were extremely equal on the qualifying round, the smallest variation I've seen this season. Maren Lundby's series of qualification victories came to its end, as Lundby flew 85.5 meters (-0.8/0.0), and gathered 112.7 points. Norwegian was beaten by Juliane Seyfarth, who also jumped 85.5 meters (-0.6/0.0), but scored 112.9 points. Seyfarth and Lundby were followed by Japanese jumper Kaori Iwabuchi: longest jump of the qualification, 87.0 meters (+0.2/0.0), but her lower points from style lowered her total score to 109.2. Saturday's 11th, Chiara Hoelzl was 4th with 109.0, 2015 FIS Junior World Ski Champion Sofia Tikhonova 5th with 108.9, Saturday's 10th, Line Jahr 6th with 108.8, and Katja Pozun finished in 7th with 108.4 points. Italian Veronica Gianmoena was disqualified due to illegal suit.

All of TOP10 jumpers arrived for the trial round. Thanks to high finishing position on Saturday, Sarah Hendrickson didn't have to participate in the qualifying session. Jumper from the United States of America flew nicely 89.0 meters (-0.8/0.0), and scored 67.2 in total, and was 2nd among TOP10 jumpers, beating also all of the qualification's jumpers. Avvakumova, Englund, Seifriedsberger and Vtic couldn't beat Seyfarth nor Lundby. Eva Pinkelnig jumped 88.0 meters (-1.2/0.0), and scored 64.8 points. Yuki Ito's total score was 65.0, with a jump of 88.0 meters (-1.0/0.0). Rogelj was saving her best for the competition, as Slovenian landed at 86.0 meters (-0.5/0.0), and scored 61.5 points. Sara Takanashi jumped 87.5 meters (-0.5/0.0), and got 64.5 points. Iraschko-Stolz topped the list, with a total score of 70.1, and 90.5 meters (-0.9/0.0).

It seemed like there wouldn't be major surprises on the top, but pretty equal conditions gave hope for an interesting competition.

First round [Gate 11, Wind: 0.58 m/s from behind (+4.1 p) to 0.35 m/s towards (-2.1 p)] :

Variation in wind conditions increased, which wasn't a good sign. Competion was begun by Slovenian Anja Javorsek. Javorsek jumped 75.0 meters (+0.1/0.0), and finished in 39th with a score of 89.6 points. Elena Runggaldier couldn't capitalize on round's best wind conditions according to the computers: Italian landed at 81.0 meters (-2.1/0,0) and scored 100.4 points, which was enough only for 33rd place in the competion. Qualification's third, Iwabuchi didn't impress, as she jumped 83.5 meters (+0.5/0.0), and was 19th after the first round. The next jumper after Iwabuchi, number 28, Julia Clair was the first jumper to cross the K-point: exactly 85.0 meters (+0.1/0.0), and French jumper's score of 113.1 brought her 11th position after the first round. Juliane Seyfarth took the lead of the competition after 28 jumpers with a flight of 85.0 meters (+1.2/0.0), and a score of 113.2 points. Maren Lundby didn't succeed on the first round, as her jump of 83.5 meters (+0.8/0.0) brought Norwegian 13th place after the first round. Seyfarth was beaten by Line Jahr, who flew 85.5 meters (+1.4/0.0), and scored 113.4 points.

TOP10 started with Sarah Hendrickson's jump: 89.0 meters (+0.2/0.0), longest jump of the round, and 3rd position after the first round with a score of 119.7. Irina Avvakumova didn't improve for the competition, as Russian flew 82.5 meters (+0.4/0.0), and was 20th after the first round, right ahead of Jacqueline Seifriedsberger. First of local heroes, Maja Vtic jumped 86.0 meters (+1.0/0.0), and took current 2nd. Eva Pinkelnig also landed at 86.0 meters (+1.6/0.0), and Austrian was current 4th with a score of 113.6. Yuki Ito flew 86,5 meters (+2.4/0.0), and was right behind Hendrickson with 118.4 points in total. Rogelj was right above Vtic, as Rogelj jumped 85.0 meters (+2.4/0.0), and scored 116.4 points. Sara Takanashi took the lead from Hendrickson: Japanese jumper landed at 88.5 meters (+3.1/0.0), and gathered 121.6 points. Daniela Iraschko-Stolz jumped 88.0 meters (+4.1/0.0), but highest compensation points from the wind helped her to be ranked 1st with a score of 124.6 points.
TOP10: 1. Iraschko-Stolz AUT 124.6, 2. Takanashi JPN 121.6, 3. Hendrickson USA 119.7, 4. Ito JPN 118.4, 5. Rogelj SLO 116.4, 6. Vtic SLO 115.5, 7. Englund USA 113.8, 8. Pinkelnig AUT 113.6, 9. Seyfarth GER 113.4, 10. Jahr NOR 113.2

Second round [Gate 12, Wind from behind: 0.74 m/s (+5.3) to 0.31 m/s (+2.2)] :

As the wind turned for the whole round from behind, jury decided to raise the starting position from gate 11 to gate 12. One wind direction predicted a very interesting round. Japanese jumper, Yurina Yamada, started the round with a jump of 81.0 meters (+4.9/0.0), which raised her from 30th to 23th. It was the climb of the round, equaled by Jacqueline Seifriedsberger: Austrian flew 84.0 meters (+4.9/0.0), and got from 21st to 14th. FIS Junior World Ski Champion, Sofia Tikhonova improved from her 18th place to 13th: Russian landed at 84.0 meters (+5.0/0.0), and scored 221.3 points. Saturday's 11th, Chiara Hoelzl, jumped 84.0 meters (+4.2/0.0), and gathered 222.3 points. Saturday's 4th, Lundby, couldn't improve, and Norwegian finished in 15th with a score of 218.9. After 20 jumpers, Hoelzl led, Julia Clair was 2nd, and Tikhonova 3rd.

TOP10 started with Julaine Seyfarth's jump: 89.0 meters (+4.1/0.0), which gave 15.0 points lead over Hoelzl. Norwegian Line Jahr flew 85.5 meters (+4.5/0.0), and scored 230.9 points, which gave her the current 2nd. Eva Pinkelnig jumped 85.5 meters (+4.1/0.0), and gathered 230.7 points, right ahead her team mate Hoelzl. Nita Englund's jump wasn't enough for current TOP3: worst conditions of the round, and her jump of 84.5 meters (+5.3/0.0), gave her 10th in the official results with 228.6 points in total. Crowd hoped for a good jump Maja Vtic: Slovenian landed at 85.0 meters (+3.9/0.0), which wasn't enough to beat Seyfarth; current 2nd with 231.4 points. Spela Rogelj was the lady to beat the German: Rogelj flew 88.5 meters (+4.3/0.0), and collected 242.7 points. Slovenian kept her lead, as Yuki Ito landed at 84.5 meters (+2.2/0.0), and finished in 6th with a score of 233.6. Sarah Hendrickson prepared for her second jump. Hendrickson pushed herself of the start gate, gained a total speed of 85.6 km/h (53,201 mph), launched herself into the air, and her skies touched the ground at 88.0 meters (+4.1/0.0). She gathered 243.8 points, and took the lead as two jumpers were yet to jump. Sara Takanashi wanted to make a double: Japanese jumper flew 89.5 meters (+3.3/0.0), and took the lead with a score of 244.9. Iraschko-Stolz did what she could, but 87.5 meters (+4.3/0.0) didn't seem to be enough for the win. All the points were added, and it showed 1st position - equally with Takanashi, 244.9 points. Two winners were followed by Hendrickson, with a local hero, Rogelj, who had to satisfy with 4th place, only 2.2 points from the winners! Rogelj made the best jump of the round, 126.3, followed by Hendrickson & Seyfarth's 124.1.
TOP10: 1. Iraschko-Stolz AUT & Takanashi JPN 244.9, 3. Hendrickson USA 243.8, 4. Rogelj SLO 242.7, 5. Seyfarth GER 237.3, 6. Ito JPN 233.6, 7. Vtic SLO 231.4, 8.Jahr NOR 230.9, 9. Pinkelnig AUT 230.7, 10. Englund USA 228.6.

World Cup Standings after Ljubno (12/13) :
1. D. Iraschko-Stolz   AUT   962
2. S. Takanashi   JPN   873
3. C. Vogt   GER   622
4. S. Rogelj   SLO   549
5. Y. Ito   JPN   398
6. E. Pinkelnig   AUT   382
7. M. Vtic   SLO   378
8. J. Seifriedsberger   AUT   352
9. N. Englund   USA   324
10. S. Hendrickson   USA   319

So that's all for Ljubno's weekend. It was quite exciting, although Carina Vogt didn't arrive in Ljubno. Also, it was good piece of news that Overall World Cup wasn't won yet, but 89 points is quite a safe lead for Iraschko-Stolz, whose worst position this season is 8th. Hopefully enjoyed this, and soon you may read Weekend Preview for Oslo's race, so don't forget to take a look at the blog later! Enjoy your day! :)

Links:
Full World Cup Standings after Ljubno (PDF-file)
The official results of Ljubno's second competition (PDF-file)
Results of the first round, Ljubno, 15th of February, 2015 (PDF-file)
Qualifying/trial round results from Ljubno, 15th of February 2015, (PDF-file)

Weekend Analyses of Ladies' Ski Jumping: Chapter 3.2: No major surprises in the first competition in Ljubno on Saturday

Greetings!

After Friday's practice sessions, competitors were getting ready for the competition. Last preparations would take place on the trial round.

Saturday, February 14th, 2015, Ljubno, Slovenia (Trial round and Competition 1):

Trial round [Gate 11, Wind: 0.95 m/s from behind (+6.8 points) to 0.01 m/s towards (-0.1 p)] :

Trial rounds results were quite expected, excluding Slovenian Katja Pozun's very high 5th place, with a jump of 86.0 meters (+1.8/0.0), and 63.8 points. One of the competition's strongest candidates for podium, Sarah Hendrickson flew 84.5 meters (+4.2/0.0), 7th place with a score of 63.2. Friday's TOP3 jumper, Maren Lundby finished 3rd: 85.0 meters (+5.9/0.0), 65.9 points. Line Jahr got biggest compensation points (+6.8/0.0), and she was 10th, after a jump of 81.5 meters, which gave her 59.8 points in total. Maja Vtic was 6th, as Slovenian jumped 84.5 meters (+4.5/0.0), and scored 63.5 points. Another local hero, Spela Rogelj proved that she would be fighting for a podium position: 2nd place, thanks to her flight of 87.0 meters (+3.2/0.0), and a score of 67.2. Sara Takanashi took 4th, as she jumped 86.0 meters (+2.7/0.0) and scored 64.7 points. Daniela Iraschko-Stolz was in her own class, as Austrian flew 90.0 meters (+3.2/0.0), and scored 73.2 points, 6.0 points more than Rogelj. Iraschko-Stolz became even stronger favorite for the win.

First round [Gate 11, Wind: 1.02 m/s from behind (+7.3 p) to 0.54 m/s towards (-3.2 p)] :

Wind got stronger, and less equal for the first round of the competition. Some of the clouds drifted away with the wind. This round was started by Julija Srsen. Slovenian jumped 74.5 meters (+2.8/0.0), scored 88.8 points, and finished 39th in the results. Gyda Enger was the unluckiest with the conditions (+7.3/0.0), but her jump of 78.5 meters, and a score of 105.3 brought Norwegian equal 20th position with Julia Clair. Katja Pozun handled the pressure on the first round:81.5 meters (+5.8/0.0), 111.8 points, 10th place. Japanese jumper, Kaori Iwabuchi was the first one to cross K-point's line: number 21 landed exactly at 85.0 meters (-0.2/0.0), and a score of 104.8 points gave her 23th place after the first round. Coline Mattel didn't impress on the first round: according to the compensation points, French jumper had the best wind conditions of the round: 81.0 meters (-3.2/0.0) was enough for 29th position, and 100.3 points. Chiara Hoelzl flew 86.5 meters (-0.8/0.0), and Austrian took the lead of the competition from Pozun with a score of 114.2. Juliane Seyfarth jumped between Hoelzl and Pozun, with a jump of 84.5 meters (+0.5/0.0), and 113.0 points. Sarah Hendrickson 86.0 meters (-0.2/0.0), but her better points from style comparing to Hoelzl brought Hendrickson first position, due to her score of 115.8. Qualification's winner, Maren Lundby didn't allow Hendrickson to enjoy the lead for long: Norwegian jumped 85.0 meters (+2.5/0.0), and scored 117.0 points.

TOP10 jumpers had trouble to beat Lundby's score. Line Jahe was 12th with a jump of 86.0 meters (-3.2/0.0), Irina Avvakumova 16th, 82.5 meters (+2.3/0.0), and Nita Englund's 83.5 meters (+2.1/0.0) brought 11th position. Maja Vtic sat on the starting position. Vtic gave a reason for Slovenians to enjoy, as one of the local heroes flew 84.5 meters (+6.0/0.0), scored 119.0 points, and took the lead from Lundby. Eva Pinkelnig's 85.5 meters (+1.5/0.0) were enough for current 4th. Jacqueline Seifriedsberger and Yuki Ito disappointed, as Austrian was only 14th, and Ito 13th after the first round. Spela Rogelj wanted to join Vtic, but Rogelj's jump of 84.0 meters (+2.1/0.0) was enough for 8th place in the first round's results. Sara Takanashi stole the lead from Vtic, as Japanese jumper flew 88.0 meters (+5.1/0.0), and scored 123.1 points in total. Daniela Iraschko-Stolz took her position, as Austrian landed at 89.0 meters (+4.0/0.0), and gathered 126.0 points.
TOP10: 1. Iraschko-Stolz AUT 126.0, 2. Takanashi JPN 123.1, 3. Vtic SLO 119.0, 4. Lundby NOR 117.0, 5. Hendrickson USA 115.8, 6. Pinkelnig AUT 114.5, 7. Hoelzl AUT 114.2, 8. Rogelj SLO 114.1, 9. Juliane Seyfarth GER 113.0, 10. Pozun SLO 111.8

Second round [Gate 11, Wind: 1.11 m/s from behind (+7.9 p) to 0.46 m/s towards (-2.7 p)] :

Partly clouded sky was covering the HS 95 hill, as 31 jumpers were ready to participate on the second round. Anna Rupprecht began the round: German's jump ended at 77.0 meters (+5.4/0.0), and she scored 198.9 points in total. Lisa Wiegele had equal points with Rupprecht after the first round, but Austrian jump of 74.0 meters (+5.2/0.0) she finished in unpleasant 31st position, 8.2 points behind Rupprecht, who was 30th in the results. Tara Geraghty-Moats made the biggest climb of the competition, as the jumper from the United States of America flew 85.0 meters (+2.9/0.0), gathered 215.2 points in total, and got from 28th to 17th. Anna Haeffele couldn't use the best conditions of the round, as German jumped 82.0 meters (-2.7/0.0), and her score of 205.8 were enough for the 27th  place in the results. In contrast, Slovenian Ursa Bogataj had the worst conditions: Bogataj landed at 79.5 meters (+7.9/0.0), and dropped from 19th to 22nd. Yuki Ito was the best TOP10 jumper to improve her position after first round's disappointment: she flew 87.5 meters (-0.1/0.0), and took the lead of the competition with a score of 226.8. Ito was leading after 20 jumps, followed by Line Jahr and Nita Englund.

TOP10 was started by Katja Pozun. Slovenian wanted to give the crowd a good jump: Pozun landed at 84.0 meters (+2.8/0.0), scored 225.6 points, and couldn't take the lead from Ito. Since Carina Vogt was absent, Juliane Seyfarth was the best German jumper after the first round. Seyfarth didn't stay in the TOP10, because she jumped only 81.0 meters (+4.9/0.0), and the best German finished 13th in the official results. Spela Rogelj prepared for her jump. After slightly disappointing first round she wanted to improve the atmosphere among Slovenian fans. Rogelj did take the lead with a score of 232.0 points, but her jump of 85.0 meters (+2.9/0.0) wasn't as good as Slovenians wanted. Chiara Hoelzl wasn't able to beat Rogelj, because Austrian landed at 84.5 meters (+4.0/0.0), and took current 5th position. Eva Pinkelnig achieved the second best distance of the competition: 89.0 meters (-0.8/0.0), and a total score of 233.7 points gave her current 1st place. Sarah Hendrickson sat on the starting bench. Hendrickson launched herself into the air, landed at 87.0 meters (+2.3/0.0), gathered 237.1 points, and took the lead of the competition. Maren Lundby wanted to return back to the TOP3, and Norwegian flew for the second time 85.0 meters (+3.3/0.0), but her score of 234.8 wasn't enough to beat Hendrickson. Slovenians hopes for podium remained with Vtic. To take the lead, Vtic had to fly about 85.0 meters. She got the start signal from her coach, gained a total speed of 84.9 km/h (52,766 mph), gained height, but landed at 83.0 meters (+4.9/0.0). Vtic waited for her total score, but unfortunately she had to satisfy with current 4th with 232.9 points. Sara Takanashi had to take lead to keep World Cup hopes alive. Japanese jumper gained a total speed of 85.2 km/h (52.952 mph), and flew the longest jump of the competition: 90.0 meters (+2.9/0.0), and the total score of 248.5 points gave her a massive lead of 11.4 points. Iraschko-Stolz couldn't beat Takanashi: 88.0 meters (+0.9/0.0), and 245.4 points were enough for the second position. These results also meant that Sarah Hendrickson took her first podium in the World Cup since her win in Oslo in March 2013, and her injury from August 2013.
TOP10: 1. Takanashi JPN 248.5, 2. Iraschko-Stolz AUT 245.4, 3. Hendrickson USA 237.1, 4. Lundby NOR 234.8, 5. Pinkelnig AUT 233.7, 6. Vtic SLO 232.9, 7. Rogelj SLO 232.0, 8. Ito JPN 226.8, 9. Pozun SLO 225.8, 10. Jahr NOR 224.9

There were no major changes in the World Cup standings (11/13 competitions) :
1. D. Iraschko-Stolz   AUT   862
2. S. Takanashi   JPN   773
3. C. Vogt   GER   622
4. S. Rogelj   SLO   499
5. Y. Ito   JPN   358
6. E. Pinkelnig   AUT   353
7. M. Vtic   SLO   342
8. J. Seifriedsberger   AUT   334
9. N. Englund   USA   298
10. K. Althaus   GER   288
...
12. S. Hendrickson   USA   259

The competition was quite interesting, and it predicted another very interesting one for Sunday. Check out the blog to find about that as well. Chapter 3.3 coming soon! Thank you for this one!

Links:
Full World Cup standings after the first competition in Ljubno (PDF-file)
Official results of the first competition in Ljubno (PDF-file)
Results of the first round in Ljubno, Saturday, (PDF-file)
Results of the trial round Ljubno, Saturday (PDF-file)

Weekend Analyses of Ladies' Ski Jumping: Chapter 3.1: Warming up in Ljubno on Friday

Greetings!

You may be surprised, why am I doing this only now, but there are some reasons: Due to a couple of important exams, amount of time was restricted. In addition, FIS Ski World Championships are arranged every second year, so I decided to concentrate on the main event of the season. Besides, World Cup Season hasn't concluded, so there wasn't much of a hurry. Carina Vogt's absence didn't motivate me either, but now we'll get it uploaded here. :)

Ljubno's hill is very interesting, since it's K-point is at 85 meters, and Hill Size is 95 meters. Ladies' Hill Record belongs to Sarah Hendrickson, who flew 95.0 meters on 12th of February, 2012. After this introduction, and some excuses, let's take a look at Friday 13th of Febryary, 2015.


Friday, February 13th, 2015, Ljubno, Slovenia (Training rounds + Qualification):

Three jumping rounds were scheduled on Friday in Ljubno. First training round was under partly clouded sky. The wind altered between 0.35 m/s from behind to 0.80 m/s towards. The gate was changed three times: first 33 jumpers started acceleration from starting position 12, number 35, Maren Lundby from gate 11, numbers 36-44 from gate 10, and Iraschko-Stolz started from the gate 9.

Jumps didn't impress at the start. as number 19, Abby Hughes was the first jumper, who got close to the K-point: 83.5 meters (+1.6/0.0), and it gave her 58.6 points in total, 15th place in the results. Katja Pozun with number 22 landed 0.5 meters before the K-point: 84.5 meters (+2.1/0.0), 61.1 points, 11th position. Juliane Seyfarth was a bit lucky with the conditions, but she used them properly: 90.5 meters (-3.7/0.0), 67.3 points gave the German 10th place. Next jumper, Sarah Hendrickson flew 90.0 meters (-2.5/0.0), 67.5 points, and 9th position. Maren Lundby was next: Norwegian started one gate lower, but it didn't stop her: 90.0 meters (-1.6/+4.2), 72.6 points, and 3rd place in the rankings. Maja Vtic and Eva Pinkelnig finished equal sixth in the results: 69.4 points; Vtic flew 87.0 meters (-3.0/+8.4), and Pinkelnig 86.5 meters (-2.0/+8.4). Jacqueline Seifriedsberger collected 69.0 points with a jump of 86.0 meters (-1.4/+8.4), Yuki Ito landed at 87.5 meters (-1.0/+8.4), scoring 72.4 points, and Slovenian Spela Rogelj beat Ito by 0.1 points with 88.0 meters' flight (-1.9/+8.4). Sara Takanashi flew the longest jump of the round, 91.5 meters (-1.8/+8.4), and scored 79.6 points. Daniela Iraschko-Stolz started her jump from a gate lower: 87.0 meters (-0.6/+12.6), giving her 76.0 points, and second position, 3.6 points behind Takanashi. Tara Geraghty-Moats didn't participate on the first training round.

On the second training round, the gate remained stable on the position 10. All 45 jumpers jumped under partly clouded sky, with altering wind between 0.58 m/s from behind to 0.86 m/s towards. Sarah Hendirckson kept jumping well: she flew 85.5 meters (+1.7/0.0), gathered 62.7 points, enough for 7th place in the results. Maren Lundby remained in the TOP3: first training round's 3rd finished now in 2nd: 87.0 meters (+0.9/0.0), with total score of 64.9 points. Slovenian Maja Vtic seemed to enjoy jumping in Slovenia: 86.5 meters (+0.5/0.0), 63.5 points, and solid 5th position. Yuki Ito flew into the TOP3 with a jump of 86.0 meters (+1.8/0.0), and scored 63.8 points. Vtic was joined by her team mate Rogelj, who jumped 85.5 meters (+2.1/0.0), and finished 6th with 63.1 in total. Takanashi topped the results once again with a score of 69.5 points, and the longest jump of the round, 89.0 meters (+1.5/0.0). Iraschko-Stolz landed fourth in the results: 63.7 points, and a jump of 86.0 meters (+1.7/0.0).

Jury raised the gate to position 11 for the qualification round. For the first time in a while, all of the jumpers were forced to jump in average wind of one direction: it was from behind, and altered between 0.82 m/s and 0.31 m/s.Slovenians got five jumpers through the qualification: Eva Logar was best of them with a jump of 81.5 meters (+5.4/0.0), scored 110.9 points and finished impressively in 3rd. Katja Pozun was 6th with 107.8 points, Ursa Bogataj 9th with 105.7 points, and last two positions, which guaranteed the place in the competition, were taken by Julija Srsen, 90.9 points, and Anja Javorsek with 88.3 points. In addition to those jumpers, two prequalified local heroes, Maja Vtic and Spela Rogelj raised the number to 7, which would make the Slovenian team the biggest one in the competition.Vtic didn't show up for the last training round, but Rogelj jumped 86.0 meters (+3.6/0.0), and was second among TOP10 jumpers of the round. Qualification was won by Maren Lundby. Norwegian flew 86.5 meters (+5.1/0.0), scored 1221 points, and took the first position by impressive 7.5 points. Lundby was followed by Hendrickson, who landed at 83.5 meters (+4.6/0.0), and scored 114.6 points in total.

Current TOP10's jumps' distances were between 80.5 meters and 86.0 meters, which was also the most common distance, achieved by three jumpers: Pinkelnig, Rogelj and Iraschko-Stolz, who also scored the highest amount of points among the TOP10: 67.6 points. If we scratch judges' points from Lundby's score, Norwegian got 68.1 points, the highest of all. Rogelj would be 3rd with 65.6 points, followed by Pinkelnig with 65.4 points. Two previous rounds' winner, Takanashi scored 64.1 points with a jump of 85.0 meters (+4.1/0.0). Vtic wasn't the only absent person, because Nita Englund didn't participate.

Based on three rounds of jumps, Sara Takanshi, Daniela Iraschko-Stolz, and Maren Lundby were the three strongest candidates for the win. Local heroes Vtic and Rogelj could mix the order in TOP6. Ito, Hendrickson and Pinkelnig shoudln't be forgotten either.

This was quite an exciting training day to analyse, even though Carina was absent. For today, this is enough. Tomorrow, on 12th of March, the analyses will be completed, so don't forget to return to this blog tomorrow as well. I wish you good night, as it's 10:45 pm here in Finland! :)

Links:
Results of the training rounds (PDF-file), 13th of February, 2015, Ljubno, Slovenia
Results of the qualification (PDF-file), February 13th, 2015, Ljubno, Slovenia

25th post of the blog: All the best for ladies, International Women's day (March, 8th)

Greetings!

I want to wish all the best for ladies, as today it's time to celebrate the International Women's Day! :) May this day be great to all of you, and hopefully we'll see more female participants in ski jumping competitions.

I'm planning to start a series about important female ski jumpers, and first three jumpers in the series will be: Carina Vogt, Anette Sagen and Sarah Hendrickson. You can let me know in the comments, who would you like to see in this series of posts. The first post will be released on week 12, after this World Cup season has concluded.

Just to remind you, Ladies' Ski Jumping World Cup finale will be held in Oslo, Norway on Friday, 13th of March, at 17:00 (GMT+1), at Holmenkollbakken. Also Weekend Analyses will return, on Tuesday and Wednesday, we'll recall the events from Slovenian Ljubno!

All in all, I wsih you great Sunday, and hopefully you have excellent weather, wherever you are! :)

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!

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

Weekend Analyses of Ladies' Ski Jumping: Chapter 2.2: Small changes on the top

Greetings! Let's take a look at the first competition in Rasnov:

Saturday, February 7th, 2015 (Trial Round and Competition 1)

Female jumpers had a chance to do their third training jump on the trial round. The only one skipping this opportunity was Lea Lemare from France. Eva Pinkelnig came across as unstoppable: 100.0 meters (-2.8/0.0), scoring 77.2 points. Sara Takanashi finished 6.1 points behind her with 94.5 meters (-3.8/+5.9). Iraschko-Stolz was third 92.5 meters (-1.2/+5.9), and 69.7 points. Carina Vogt didn't impress with 85.0 meters jump, gathering 53.5 points (-2.4/+5.9) and finishing 23rd! Pinkelnig seemed to have a clear path to her first World Cup victory.

The first round was jumped under clouded sky. Wind was turning from back to towards. The top speed from behind the hill was 0.14 m/s and the highest amount of wind from towards was 0.71 m/s. Gate stayed at position 29 through the whole round. The longest jump of round was performed by Maren Lundby. Norwegian lady jumped 94.5 meters (-2.4/0.0) bringing her 120.6 points, and the lead of the competition after the 1st round. Jumper number 30, Eva Pinkelnig had nice conditions, 0.52 m/s towards, and she capitalized on that landing at 94.0 meters (-3.3/0.0), but low score from judges gave her 4th position with 115.7 points. Yuki Ito jumped 91.0 meters (-2.4/0.0) taking 7th place, and Slovenian Maja Vtic landed at 92.5 meters (-4.2/0.0), which gave her 5th position after the first round. It was time for the TOP3 in World Cup. Sara Takanashi launched herself up in the air finishing her flight at 94.0 meters (-2.8/0.0), bringing her 116.2 points. Carina Vogt gathered herself after the terrible trial round, jumping 92.0 meters (-2.2/0.0). She equaled Vtic's points 113.3. The World Cup leader Iraschko-Stolz landed at 94.0 meters (-1.2/0.0), scoring 120.3 points, which allowed her to take 2nd place after the first round. Anette Sagen from Norway was disqualified due to an illegal suit. TOP7: 1. Lundby NOR 120.6, 2. Iraschko-Stolz AUT 120.3, 3. Takanashi JPN 116.2, 4. Pinkelnig AUT 115.7, 5.Vogt GER and Vtic SLO 113.3, 7. Ito JPN 112.6.

The second round of the competition was in pretty similar conditions, except the wind from behind got stronger, up to 0.39 m/s. The highest speed of the wind towards the hill was 0.23 m/s. Starting poistion remained at 29 until the 9th jumper of the round. Nita Englund was the lucky lady to start her acceleration from gate 30. Englund jumped 90.5 meters (+0.5/-2.9). 6th best jump of the round raised her from 22nd up to 12 th. Line Jahr's jump of 91.5 meters (-0.1/-2.9) raised her from 11th to 7th. The same amount of positions was gained by Spela Rogelj. Slovenian jumped 89.5 meters (+2.6/-2.9) for the second time, bringing her 220.5 points and 5th place. Yuki Ito lost three positions with her 86.5 meters (+1.0/-2.9) jump. It was Maja Vtic's turn to make her jump. She landed at 88.5 meters (-0.2/-2.9), and she couldn't beat her team mate's score. Carina Vogt sat on the starting bench. German was 7.3 points behind Lundby after the first round, which meant she had to jump about 3.5 meters longer than the Norwegian, near 95.0 meters. Vogt gained her speed, flew in the air, but 89.5 meters (-0.2/-2.9) wasn't good enough. Her fight for extra meters didn't do good for her landing, as her score was only between 16.0 and 17.0 points. After her jump she was 4th with a score of 219.2, only 1.3 ponits to Rogelj. Eva Pinkelnig wanted to improve her result after the first round. Austrian jumped 91.0 meters (+2.2/-2.9). The jump was good, but not good enough. The next jumper, Sara Takanashi flew three meters further, 94.0 meters (+2.1/-2.9), gathering total score of 234.9 points. Iraschko-Stolz had a great chance to increase her lead over Vogt. World Cup leader jumped 92.5 meters (+2.7/-2.9), scoring 239.1 points. Lundby was the last jumper at the top of the hill. Norwegian did what she could: 89.0 meters (+2.7/-2.9) weren't enough for the win, nor second position. Lundby finished 3rd with 230.9 points, which ment that Pinkelnig was kicked from the podium. Carina Vogt's great run of TOP2 results came to it's end, 8th place in the official results. TOP8: 1. Iraschko-Stolz AUT 239.1, 2. Takanashi JPN 234.9, 3. Lundby NOR 230.9, 4. Pinkelnig AUT 229.0, 5. Rogelj SLO 220.5, 6. Vtic SLO 219.7, 7. Jahr NOR 219.4, 8. Vogt 219.2

In the overall standings after there were no major changes:
Ladies' World Cup 10/14 competitions:
1. Iraschko-Stolz AUT 722
2. Vogt GER 600
3. Takanashi JPN 573
4. Rogelj SLO 437
5. Seifriedsberger AUT 303
6. Ito JPN 290

There was room for improvement left for Carina Vogt for the Sunday's competition.

Links:
Trial Round Results (PDF-file) February 7th, 2015, Rasnov
Results of the first round (PDF-file), 7th February, 2015, Rasnov
The official results of the first competition (PDF-file) 7th February, 2015, Rasnov
Complete Ladies' World Cup Standings, 7th February, 2015

Weekend Analyses of Ladies' Ski Jumping: Chapter 2.1: Warming up on Friday in Rasnov

Greetings!

It has been challenging couple of weeks, which has forced me to postpone writing these posts. I'll try to pull myself together, and work hard until the end of the season. Apologies, but let's move on to the more interesting part.

Friday, February 6th, 2015 (Practice)

Weekend in Rasnov began with the first practice session, and a cloudy weather. Hinzenbach weekend didn't bring major changes to the top group, but practice sessions revealed a slight surprise. Austrian Eva Pinkelnig was on fire: she took the first position on both training rounds. The 26-year-old lady flew 96.5 meters on her first jump with a compensation (+1.3/+5.9) gathering 80.2 ponits. She landed her second jump at incredible 101.0 meters, which became the new hill record. She scored 79.5 points with compensational points(-2.5/0.0). Yuki Ito surprised some people by being the best Japanese jumper in the second competition in Hinzenbach. Ito kept jumping well, finishing 2nd on the 1st training round with a score of 78.0 (+0.1/+5.9), and 4th on the 2nd round with 76.8 points (+0.9/+5.9). Her first jump was 96.0 meters and the second one 95.0 meters. Sara Takanashi jumped two stable training jumps: 96.5 meters (-1.5/+5.9), 77.4 points in total, and 96.5 meters (-1.1/+5.9), scoring 77.8, and finishing 3rd twice in the results. World Cup leader Iraschko-Stolz did two good jumps. Austrian jumped the longest jump on first training round, 97.0 meters (-3.6/+5.9) and on the second round she landed again at 97.0 meters (-1.5/+5.9). Her finishing positions were 4th with 76.3 points, and 2nd with 78.4 points. Recently excellent qualifying jumps performing Norwegian Maren Lundby finished 5th and 6th in the sessions.

Carina Vogt had to adjust to the Rasnov hill, as she was absent from 2014 competitions. It didn't seem to be a problem to the Olympic Champion. She finished 6th on the first training round with 72.6 points, having landed at 94.5 meters (-2.3/+5.9). On the second round Vogt moved up a position jumping 94.0 meters (-2.5/+5.9) and scoring 71.4 points. The German seemed to be very well prepared for the competitions.

As there were only 39 jumpers, there qualifying session wasn't necessary. After two practice sessions it looked like the weekend would be dominant for Eva Pinkelnig. Vogt and Iraschko-Stolz would be also the greatest candidates for the win, challenged by Takanashi, Ito and Lundby.

Friday Practice results (PDF-file) February 6th, 2015 Rasnov HS100

Weekend Preview of Ladies' Ski Jumping: Chapter 3: Ljubno, Slovenia (13.02-15.02.2015)

Greetings! It's time for a short Weekend Preview of Ladies' Ski Jumping!

The host of this weekend's competitions is Ljubno in Slovenia. Ljubno's HS95 hill's K-point is at 85.0 meters, and the hill records belongs to Dejan Judez (89.5 meters, 2009). Ladies' hill record is made by Sarah Hendrickson (95.0 meters, 2012).

The most interesting item of news is that Carina Vogt won't participate in the competitions, since she is preparing for the World Championships. German's results in Rasnov weren't encouraging either, which may have affected her decision as well.

The previous season didn't see competitions in Ljubno. In 2013 both of the competitions were won yet again, by Sarah Takanashi: Japanese jumper won the first competition by 10.9 points ahead of Sarah Hendrickson, followed by Coline Mattel. Takanashi beat Mattel by 23.6 points in the second competition. Sarah Hendrickson came third. Carina Vogt was absent from both of the competitions preparing for the World Championships in Val di Fiemme.

Judging by the latest performances, Sara Takanashi is a favourite for these competition. Daniela Iraschko-Stolz is right beside her. Slovenian Spela Rogelj will be strong at her home hill. Maren Lundby from Norway has jumped very good lately, especially in qualifying; she did finish in TOP3 in Rasnov. Sarah Hendrickson, Nita Englund (both The United States of America) and Yuki Ito (Japan) may mix the order.

Let us enjoy a relaxing weekend, as the first competition is about to begin!

Links:
Detailed information about the hill (Ljubno HS95)
Results of the first competition in Ljubno (16.02.2013)
Results of the second competition in Ljubno (17.02.2013)