Daiki Ito finally did it! In Sapporo the Japanese celebrated his first victory in the World Cup. And what a close competition it was! Ito won with only 0.1 points ahead of Norwegian Anders Bardal.
Vegard Haukoe Sklett
In the final round Ito jumped on 130 m, Bardal landed at 135 m. At the end the 26-year-old won with 252.6 points ahead of the Norwegian (252.5 points). "Winning is always amazing, but to win a World Cup competition for the first time in front of the home crowd is simply incredible. I tried to not think about the possible victory and just focused on my task. The conditions in Sapporo are always difficult. The changing wind is what I feared the most."
The third place on the podium went to Poland's Kamil Stoch (247.2 points), who did not jump that well in training and qualification and showed his best jumps in the competition. "It is always annoying to lose by only 0.1 points. But when it's in Japan against Daiki then it's okay. Maybe there will be more spectators tomorrow because of Daiki's win. I needed some time to adjust to the hill, but now I'm very satisfied", said Bardal.
Kamil Stoch
"I needed some time to rest because of the trip and the time difference. That's why I didn't jump that well yesterday. Today I didn't have any problems, not in the inrun and not in the flight. The trial round gave me confidence. The hill here is special and the changing winds can make the difference", told Stoch.
It was a really good competition on Saturday for the Norwegian team. Vegard Haukoe Sklett showed the longest jump of the day with 138.5 m and finished fourth, a career-best for him. Also Anders Fannemel achieved his best result ever as seventh. Strong Czech Roman Koudelka was fifth, followed by Slovene Robert Kranjec.
Two Germans were among the Top 10, but Richard Freitag (8th) and Michael Neumayer (10th) clearly missed the podium. In the first round Andreas Kofler and Thomas Morgenstern didn't have the best conditions, in the final Kofler then once again showed that he is a top athlete and moved up to ninth overall. Kofler was the only Austrian in the Top 10 - a slight disappointment.
Morgenstern behind Kasai
Morgenstern was 16th, behind Noriaki Kasai (15th) and the best Finn Anssi Koivuranta (14th). Severin Freund jumped only on 104 m in the final and came in 27th. Last year Freund could win here in Sapporo.
Overall World Cup: Kofler followed by Bardal
Kofler still keeps the yellow bib of the overall leader, even if Bardal could get closer with his second place today. Kofler leads with 934 points ahead of Bardal, who scored 889 points. Stoch moved up to fifth.
| 01 | Wasek, P. |  |
329 | 0 |
| 02 | Kraft, S. | |
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| 03 | Lindvik, M. | |
300 | 2 |
| 04 | Insam, A. | |
299 | 1 |
| 05 | Hoerl, J. | |
249 | 1 |
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| 01 | Malsiner, L. | |
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| 02 | Sieff, A. | |
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| 03 | Takanashi, S. | |
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| 01 | Japan | |
872 | 0 |
| 02 | Italia | |
628 | 0 |
| 03 | Slovenia | |
605 | 0 |
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| 01 | Aigner, C. | |
543 | 0 |
| 02 | Fettner, M. | |
405 | 2 |
| 03 | Villumstadt, F. | |
377 | 0 |
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| 01 | Schmid, K. | |
300 | 0 |
| 02 | Arnet, S. | |
289 | 0 |
| 03 | Wadsak, M. | |
277 | 0 |
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