By the time the new winter season will be kicked off in Lillehammer (NOR), ladies ski jumping is about to start into its second year at World Cup level. At one of Norway's oldest and most famous places for winter sports, both men and ladies will open up this season together by competing in terms of the new competition format called mixed team - thereby they are promising to offer pure excitement from the very first beginning.
"You can never tell how the competition is going to finish, and you see nations that you would not expect to be on the podium otherwise", the new Assistant Race Director Aga Baczkowska said, who calls this new format attractive. "In particular, it's really inspiring to see how some female teams can actually influence and stimulate their male colleagues - not only the other way round. They can motivate and initiate progress of each other, lifting themselves to a level none would be able to reach independently."
Varied World Cup calendar
For the ladies, the opening mixed team event will be followed by an individual competition that brings up the first female World Cup winner of this year. With the calendar having been expanded by including the new hosts Sochi (RUS), Ramsau (AUT), Schonach (GER), Sapporo (JPN) and Trondheim (NOR), another 15 individual competitions will be on the agenda throughout the winter season. That means, alltogether 10 places will offer the opportunity for the ladies to compete on the highest level.
Ladies World Cup calendar 2012/2013 »
Favorites and newcomers fighting for titles
Will 18-year-old US athlete Sarah Hendrickson (Results of Sarah Hendrickson ») be able to show as impressive performances as she did last year by winning nine World Cup competitions what meant a convincing victory in the overall ranking as well? What have her nearest rivals Daniela Iraschko from Austria (Results of Daniela Iraschko »), last season's runner-up and reigning World Champion, and Sara Takanashi from Japan (Results of Sara Takanashi »), Junior World Champion and Youth Olympic Champion, to set against the dominance of the US team?
After having achieved great results at the summer competitions, Daniela Iraschko will now start into the season as one of the big favorites. It will be interesting to see if she is able to defend her title as World Champion in Val di Fiemme in February and if she manages to reach the top of the overall ranking - a goal that she failed to achieve last winter. Apart from Hendrickson and Takanashi, who will be the other ladies she has to be aware of? Her teammate Jacqueline Seifriedberger, for example, presented herself in a very good shape during the summer. Also Ulrike Gräßler (GER) who finished fourth in last season's overall ranking, is aiming high in regard to the new World Cup winter, the same applies to Lindsey Van from the USA. And what can we expect from newcomers such as Alexandra Pretorius from Canada (Results of the FIS Grand Prix 2012 ») who claimed a surprising victory at this summer's FIS Grand Prix?
Green light on the part of the organizers
Some time before the official season opening, many teams took the chance to go to Lillehammer for some training sessions. The first ones to do that were the Swedish athletes who used this opportunity since November the 6th. Also the local heroes from Norway have been training in Lillehammer to get well prepared for the opening, now they are getting excited about the competitions in front of their home crowd. "It is nice to feel the snow under the skies again. I cross my fingers that there will be good conditions in Lillehammer next weekend", Line Jahr says. "There is enough snow on the hills, everything goes according to plan and complies with the standards. I am sure we will have a good start into the 2012/2013 season", says Eiliv Furuli Eiliv, president of the organizing committee.
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