SKI JUMPING. Austria is almost unbeatable in team competitions. That showed also in this summer’s first team competition in Zakopane. The Austrian team with the World Champions Martin Koch, Wolfgang Loitzl, Gregor Schlierenzauer and Thomas Morgenstern were the top favorites and clearly won with a total of 974.3 points.

Team Austria, photo © fisskijumping.com

The strong German team finished second with a great performance of Richard Freitag. But also Severin Freund and Stephan Hocke showed very good jumps, Martin Schmitt is not in his best shape yet, but that didn’t matter. The second place (919.6 points) is a good result for the team.
 
Russians strong third
 
The Russians showed a very good performance and came in third (896.1 points). Pavel Karelin is in a great shape and jumped close to the hill record (140.5 m held by Simon Ammann) with 138.5 m. Also the rest of the team showed that things are on the move in Russia. A place on the podium is the reward for this improvement.
 
The Czech Republic was fourth, followed by Slovenia. It was a disappointing day for the Polish team with their sixth place.

Kamil Stoch (POL), photo © fisskijumping.com

Finns not in shape
 
The Norwegians finished seventh. Anders Bardal and Johan Remen Evensen are not in shape for the World Cup yet, Tom Hilde and Rune Velta are jumping good. Japan, without Noriaki Kasai and last summer’s overall winner Daiki Ito, was eighth and still has some room for improvement.
 
Finland and Italy could not qualify for the final round. The Finns are far from their best shape so far this summer. Head coach Pekka Niemelae is counting on the return of Matti Hautamäki and Ville Larinto, who is recovering from his ACL-rupture.

FISskijumping.com
22.07.2011 22:22

Team competition Ranking
FIS Summer Grand Prix in Zakopane

Rank  Nation  Total 
1.  Austria    974.3  
2.  Germany    919.6  
3.  Russia    896.1  
4.  Czech Republic    858.2  
5.  Slovenia    830.8  
6.  Poland    817.8  
7.  Norway    806.4  
8.  Japan    805.7  
9.  Finland    348.0  
10.  Italy    335.5 

***

COC-L: Victory for Maja Vtic

The ladies are also on a little Poland-Tour right now. After the opening event in Szczyrk, the second Continental Cup competition this summer took place on the normal hill in Zakopane (POL).

Lisa Demetz (ITA), Maja Vtic (SLO) and Katharina Althaus (GER), photo © fisskijumping.com

Maja Vtic from Slovenia, with 86 m third after the first round, captured the victory with a jump on 91 m in the final (236.0 points). "I'm very happy about this victory. I like to jump in Zakopane and I'm in a very good shape", said Vtic, who didn't have any problems because of the bad weather. "The conditions were the same for everyone. I was focussing on my technique and it worked.

The leader after the first round, Italian Lisa Demetz, finished second with 233.5 points (90.5 m and 83 m). "It was a very good day for me and I'm happy about the result. Although it was windy, the weather wasn't that big of a problem."

Germany's Katharina Althaus came in third with jumps on 85.5 m and 87 m. This was the best result of her career so far for the only 15-year-old from Oberstdorf. "I'm very happy, the competition was difficult because of the weather conditions and the wind."

Behind Coline Mattel (4th) and Evelyn Insam (5th), Anna Rupprecht and Melanie Faisst completed the good team result for the Germans.

FISskijumping.com
22.07.2011 14:33

Overall ranking COC-L after 2 competitions

1 Vtic, Maja SLO 160
2 Mattel, Coline FRA 150
3 Demetz, Lisa ITA 130