Sarah Hendrickson wins in Trondheim
The 2012/13 season is coming to an end, but for US American Sarah Hendrickson it's still in full swing. After her win at the World Championships in Val di Fiemme, she now also stood on top of the podium at the second-to-last World Cup event of this winter. In Trondheim, Norway, she won ahead of her main rival Sara Takanashi of Japan and Austrian Jacqueline Seifriedsberger.
It was the first time that Trondheim hosted a World Cup in women's ski jumping, for Sarah Hendrickson this premiere also became successful day personally. Under blue skies and sunshine and in front of many enthusiastic spectators, the 18-year-old won this season's second-to-last competition. With a jump on 101.5 m Hendrickson had a lead of 0.6 points ahead of Japanese Sara Takanashi after the first round. With 101 m in the final and very good jugdes' marks she earned a total of 283 points and celebrated a clear win. "It's my first time in Trondheim and it was a fantastic day. The season is almost over, but I feel really well. Now I'm looking forward to Oslo and the Holmenkollen. The larger the hill, the better for me", smiled the winner. Besides the World Championship title, this was the third win in the World Cup this season for Hendrickson.
Sara Takanashi, who already won the overall World Cup title, came in second today and was happy about that, despite small mistakes. "Unfortunately I wasn't able to show a telemark and in the second round I was a bit late at the take-off. But still it was enough to finish on the podium and of course I'm very happy about that", told the Japanese. With 105 m Takanashi set a new hill record in the first round, but was second behind Hendrickson due to the judges' marks. With 100 m in the final she scored 274.9 points.
The third place went to Austrian Jacqueline Seifriedsberger, who already showed in the training rounds that she can do really well on the hill in Trondheim. With a jump on 99 m she was fourth after the first round, behind Jessica Jerome (USA), but with strong 102 m (271.2 points) in the final she captured the spot on the podium. "That's my first podium finish in Norway, so I'm happy about it. I'm satisfied with my jumps, but not really with the landing", said the Austrian.
Chinese Qi Liu with impressive seventh place
Behind Jerome, also Katja Pozun (SLO), Coline Mattel (FRA), Qi Liu (CHN), Evelyn Insam (ITA), Anette Sagen (NOR) and Carina Vogt (GER) achieved Top 10 results. So athletes of nine different nations finished among the best ten of the day. Especially Chinese Qi Liu gained some attention with her remarkable seventh place. Anette Sagen was the best of the local heroes of Norway, her teammates Line Jahr, Maren Lundby and Gyda Enger were 15th, 28th and 30, Karoline Roestad and Synne Steen Hansen failed to make the cut for the final round.
While Sara Takanashi already captured the overall title in Ljubno, Sarah Hendrickson now took the second place in the overall ranking. Coline Mattel (FRA) is third, but only 16 points ahead of Jacqueline Seifriedsberger.
The athletes now travel to the Holmenkollen in Oslo, were not only the season's final event, but also the first ever large hill competition for the ladies will be held. The best 30 athletes of the overall World Cup ranking can compete there. After problems at the beginning and a break in the middle of the season, Germany's Ulrike Graessler is 33rd now and will miss this goal by only eight points if none of the Top 30 ranked athletes refrains from starting in Oslo.