2014 in ski jumping
The year 2014 is already behind us. It was a great, exciting and historical year for ski-jumping. Let's remember the most important moments from the previous year!
JANUARY
Thomas Diethart takes victory in 62nd Four Hills Tournament
The 21-year-old, almost unknown representative of Austria, Thomas Diethart took the victory in the prestigious Four-Hills-Tournament ahead of Thomas Morgenstern and Simon Ammann. The new shining star of ski-jumping beat all the favorites and became the symbol of the new wave in Austrian ski-jumping.
Noriaki Kasai becomes the oldest winner of a World Cup competition
At the age of 41 the experienced representative of Japan Noriaki Kasai took the victory in the World Cup competition in Bad Mitterndorf with jumps of 196 and 197 meters, ahead of Peter Prevc and Gregor Schlierenzauer. The apanese proves that age isn't an obstacle in every competition and he can still compete with much younger athletes.
FEBRUARY
Junior World Championships in Val di Fiemme
Sara Takanashi, the 2013/14 World Cup leader, for the third time in a row became Junior World Champion in ski-jumping, winning with over 14-point advantage ahead of French Coline Mattel and Norway's Maren Lundby. Takanashi took the victory also in the team competition by winning the gold medal with her teammates Yuki Ito, Haruka Iwasa and Yurina Yamada ahead of Slovenia and France. In the men's competition the best turned out to be Poland's Jakub Wolny, who took the victory ahead of Patrick Streitler and Evgeniy Klimov. Also in the team competition the best were the representatives of Poland Aleksander Zniszczoł, Klemens Murańka, Krzysztof Biegun and Jakub Wolny, who won ahead of Austria and Norway.
Winter Olympics in Sochi 2014
This year's Olympic Games held in Russian Sochi were unique for several reasons. For the first time in history women's ski-jumping found itself in the schedule of the Olympics. The very first Olympic Champion in this category became the 22-year-old German Carina Vogt, who won ahead of Daniela Iraschko-Stolz and Coline Mattel. Exciting were also the men's competitions. Unbeatable was the representative of Poland Kamil Stoch, who won on the normal and big hill. In the first competition Stoch won ahead of Peter Prevc and Anders Bardal with jumps of 105,5 and 103,5 meters. In the second competition after an exciting battle also the representative of Poland was the best, but with only 1,3 points advantage ahead of Noriaki Kasai. His second medal at the Olympics achieved Slovenia's Peter Prevc, who won the bronze medal this time. In the team competition the best were the Germans, in the composition of Andreas Wank, Marinus Kraus, Andreas Wellinger and Severin Freund, who won the gold medal ahead of Austria and Japan.
MARCH
Health problems of Taku Takeuchi end his season earlier
At the beginning of the year the 26-year-old representative of Japan was diagnosed with eosinophilic granulomatous vasculitis, which is a serious illness. Takeuchi decided to fight against this illness and ended the season earlier to receive medical treatment in Japan. In this battle his teammates supported him.
Ski Flying World Championships in Harrachov
Unfortunately in Czech's Harrachov the wind played the main role, which made it impossible to hold the competitions in fair conditions. After only two rounds of the battle for the World Champion title, the representative of Germany Severin Freund took the victory. He won ahead of Anders Bardal and Peter Prevc. Unluckily the weather conditions haven't improved and the organizers decided that the team competition will not be held.
Kamil Stoch and Sara Takanashi are the 2013/2014 World-Cup winners!
In the end Peter Prevc, Severin Freund and Kamil Stoch fought for the triumph in the men's general classification. In Planica all became clear - the Crystal Ball went to the double Olympic Champion from Sochi, who scored 1420 points! The representative of Slovenia took the second place with 1312 points and the third place went to Freund, who scored 1303 points. Sara Takanashi dominated the ladies' rivalry with 1720 points, second was Carina Vogt with 806 points and third was Yuki Ito with 759 points.
APRIL
The end of the Pointner era, Heinz Kuttin became new head coach of Austria!
After 10 years the Austrian Ski Federation (ÖSV) decided to end their coopeation with Alexander Pointner as the head coach of the men's team. Under his care the Austrian team won seven Olympic medals, sixteen World-Championship medals, nine Ski-Flying World-Championship medals, took the victory in the Four Hills Tournament six times, won four Crystal Balls for the overall victory in the World Cup and nine times they turned out to be the best in the Nations Cup. His successor became Heinz Kuttin, who collaborated with Martin Koch and Thomas Morgenstern before. His assistent became Harald Rodlauer, who coached the Austrian National Women Team for three years.
MAY
Horst Bulau inducted in Canada's Sports Hall of Fame
One of the best Canadian ski jumpers in history, the 51-year-old Horst Bulau was inducted to the Hall of Fame of Canadian Sports in 2014. The honored ski-jumper achieved the best results in the season 1982/83, when he finished second in the overall World-Cup ranking just behind Matti Nykänen. He became Junior World-Champion in 1979.
"Horst raised the profile of ski-jumping in Canada through his love for the sport, the love for his country, and the drive to be the best that he could be. No ski-jumper has even come close to achieving his success. Horst has chosen to remain in Canada and volunteers in his community and inspires others with the love for sport"- Canada's Sports Hall of Fame wrote in the media release.
SUMMER
Seefeld will host the World Championships in 2019!
The International Ski Federation (FIS) announced that the World Championships in 2019 well be held in Austria's Seefeld. The other candidates were: Almaty (Kazakhstan), Oberstdorf (Germany) and Planica (Slovenia). This choice seemed to be quite surprising, because the favorite was Oberstdorf, which eventually received only one vote less than the Austrian candidate.
Landslide destroys hills in Erzurum
A huge landslide happened in Erzerum in July. Unfortunately as a result the whole modern hill complex in this city was destroyed. In December the media informed that the Turkish government decided to rebuild the ski-jumping center in the same place.
Great summer for Phillip Sjoeen and Jernej Damjan
In the Summer Grand Prix we could observe a great battle between the young Norwegian Phillip Sjoeen and Slovene Jernej Damjan. Sjoeen was the leader of the general classification, but before the two last competitions he decided to not take part and to focus on training. In this situation the winner became Damjan, for who this is his best result in his career.
WINTER
The World-Cup season 2014/2015 was inaugurated in Klingenthal. In the first team competition of this season the best turned out to be the Germans in the composition of Markus Eisenbichler, Richard Freitag, Andreas Wellinger and Severin Freund. The team of Germany is also the current leader of the Nations Cup standings. The most interesting competition until now was the second individual competition in the Finnish Kuusamo, where the winners became Simon Ammann and Noriaki Kasai, whose average age is 37,5 years! Everything looks like these two will continue to amaze us also in the upcoming year.
IN 2014 THEIR CAREERS ENDED:
Martin Schmitt, Martin Koch, Bjoern Einar Romoeren, Ilja Rosljakov, Takanobu Okabe, Thomas Morgenstern, Kaarel Nurmsalu, Peter Frenette, David Winkler, Maximilian Mechler, Alexandra Pretorius, Melanie Faisst, Bigna Windmueller and Wendy Vuik.
We wish all of them all the best for the future!
- by Anna Sobol
