COC-M: Elverum Sorsell wins in Sapporo
The long Continental Cup weekend in Sapporo ended on Sunday with the second competition on the large hill. And in the three competition in Japan, there were three different winners. After Gregor Deschwanden and Felix Schoft, Kim Rene Elverum Sorsell stood on top of the podium this time.
The 24-year-old Norwegian was already in the lead after the first round with the longest jump of the day with 136 m and took the win then with 120.5 m in the final and 257.7 points. It was his second win in the COC, he achieved the first in December 2010 in Vikersund. "I'm very happy about the podium result. The Norwegian team is so good this season because of the effective training focusing on strength.", said the winner.
The results of Kim Rene Elverum Sorsell »
Ski jumping legend Takanobu Okabe could improve his fifth place of Saturday's competition. The 42-year-old Team-Olympic Champion from Nagano 1998 was second with 255.5 points (134 m and 121 m). "My shape was not so good at the beginning of the season, but I managed to fulfill my tasks. Today both jumps went over the K-point and I think that I will further improve from now on", told Okabe.
With 132 m and 121 m and a total of 251.9 points the third place went to Slovene Miran Zupancic, who achieved the by far best results of his career in the three competitions in Sapporo with the places 5, 4 and three. "I'm satisfied with the reult, I had two good jumps and stood on the podium. Despite the shorter inrun in the second round I was focusing on my jump."
News: Gregor Deschwanden captures first win »
Best of he German jumpers was Jan Maylaender. The 20-year-old moved up from 16th to fourth with a very good jump in the final round.
Also Ole Marius Ingvaldsen managed to move up many places. The Norwegian, only 23rd after the first round, showed the best performance of the final with 131 m and with that he finished fifth.
The sixth place went to Japanese Hiroaki Watanabe, a career best in the COC for him. After this two podium results in the first competitions in Sapporo, Felix Schoft came in seventh this time, followed by the best Austrian, Lukas Mueller (8th).
The Top 10 in the final event of the trip to Japan were completed by Junior World Champion Nejc Dezman of Slovenia (9th) and Thomas Diethart of Austria (10th).
With his 345 points, Stefan Kraft is still leading in the overall ranking of the Continental Cup. Ole Marius Ingvaldsen is second (310 points), Felix Schoft is third with 307 points.