Iraschko and Mattel share win in Sochi
After the win of American Sarah Hendrickson on Saturday, two athletes shared the top spot on the podium today: Daniela Iraschko of Austria and Coline Mattel of France shared the victory on the second day of competition in Sochi, Russia. The third place went to Japanese Sara Takanashi, who is also doing very well on the future Olympic hill.
Under sunshine and significantly colder temperatures and with fair conditions, apart from shorter breaks due to the wind, it was an exciting competition. With a total score of 231.1 points the competition ended with two winners, Austrian Daniela Iraschko and French Coline Mattel.
Interesting note: Yesterday these two athletes shared the fourth place. Daniela Iraschko closely missed the podium the day before, she now made it to the top with jumps on 96.5 m and 94.5 m: "It feels great to win at the site of the 2014 Olympic Games. More than that, it's indescribable! Today I had two good jumps, only the landing was not perfect. I really like Sochi, it will be the new center of Russian winter sports."
Coline Mattel showed the longest jump of the day with 98.5 m in the first round and jumped on 92 m in the final. "I only the fifth female jumper to win a World Cup, that's really great. I didn't expect this win and I'm more than happy. Everything was perfect here in Sochi and I'm already looking forward to the Olympic Games", said the French.
Japanese Sara Takanashi was third today and achieved yet another podium result in Sochi. With jumps on 97 m and 91.5 m and a total of 228.9 points she confirmed her top shape. After the first round Takanashi was in the lead, but in the final she could not keep up with the two best. "I'm very satisfied with my jumps, yesterday and today. My second jump today was only average, so I'm very happy that I could achieve this podium result", told Takanashi.
With the places four and five Jacqueline Seifriedsberger (AUT) and Carina Vogt (GER) also achieved top results, both already attracted some attention on the first day of competition. Lindsey Van (USA), her teammate and yesterday's winner Sarah Takanashi, Anja Tepes (SLO), Abby Hughes (USA) and Yuki Ito (JPN) captured the other spots in the Top 10. Especially remarkable was the performance of Slovene Anja Tepes, who fell yesterday and fortunately didn't suffer any injuries. Her teammate Katja Pozun wasn't as lucky, she was disqualified due to a too large suit. The only Chinese jumper, Qi Liu, shared the same fate. The best team performance today was shown by the USA with three athletes in the Top 10.
Takanashi takes overall lead
With her third place today, Sara Takanashi is now the leader in the overall World Cup, after yesterday's result she had to share this leading position with her main rival Sarah Hendrickson.