Austria won the gold medal at SFWC in Vikersund

The VM at Vikersund has ended today with Austria crowned as World Champion at the team event.

The home team Norway didn't make it to the podium and finished at 4th place. These championships have been a bit strange, to be honest with you I did expected more long jumps but we managed to see at least a few, still long ones though.

A not such great Austria or better - is not the same leading team who won everything in the last few years- grabbed the gold medal today and confirmed that despite not being on the same top level as they were last year, they're still a strong team the kind of team that everyone wanna beat.

Maybe it is also for this reason that some people doesn't like them (i'm one of them) because it's boring to see always the same team winning trophies and medals, but the credit to this great team is due and no one can deny they are still the best around.

Who keeps improving are Germany (silver) and Slovenia (bronze). Werner Schuster‚ side has shown in the years that working hard and focus on the spot always payoff, it might take a while to get there‚ but there's not need to be in a hurry when you try to build up a winning team, especially when you only less than two years away from the Olympic Games. Richard Freitag for some reason can be described as the man of the year in the german's team. He won his first WC race in Harrachov back in December 2011 on the same venue where his dad won it in 1983. Today he has also set the new national record with 230 m.

-Slovenia: They have improved a lot especially in the last two seasons, they are not anymore the team who rely on one single man (Robert Kranjec) as it used to happen in the past, but the whole team have progressed well and is coming out as a top team to be scared of, the underdogs team that no one wants to deal with.

The only sad note about Slovenia, was the absence of Peter Prevc (injured) which personally i would have loved to see in action in Vikersund. - Norway: For some people this 4th place might not sound that good as it seems especially when those guys have won already a team event during the season, but a 4th place at home with all the media attention can be deadly. From my small point of view this is a good result, if we think that it comes out from the first year with a new coach, a coach who made it possible for this team to be even more compacted if there was any need. Rune Velta and Anders Fannemel are my personal heroes of the weekend 244.5 meters jumped by Fannemel yesterday and 243 by Velta today, these guys gave proved of themselves and shown that they're NOT afraid to fly!

Having as WC leader Anders Bardal, being able to picking up different jumpers for any different competition who constantly proving their worth and to be good enough for a WC place always finishing in the top 20 to me is a great result, great as much as having as COC leader Andreas Stjernen, this is also a positive note and can be good for the team spirit. A team which still has some young talented jumpers who just wants to come out and shine, for example the ones like Robert Johansson, A.P.Roensen, Kenneth Gangenes, O.M.Ingvaldsen, and on top of that, ending up the weekend with medals around the neck with the junior national team who has won the gold medal at the JWC at Erzurum, so i think the future of norwegian ski jumping couldn't be brighter.

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