Kamil Stoch is on top again and claims the victory in Trondheim!

Kamil Stoch is on top again and claims the victory in Trondheim!

15/03/2013 22:23

It was a fantastic day in Trondheim. The weather was perfect, the wind didn't bother much and we've seen lots of amazing jumps! The best one came from Kamil Stoch, who reached 140m in the final round and climbed from the third rank (131m; 280.4points) to the very top. He was followed by Richard Freitag (132/136m; 278.7points), who already had that position after his first try. The best Japanese today has been Daiki Ito. He completed the podium with 130 and 135.5m (272.1points), after being seventh in the first round. The leader after his first jump has been Robert Kranjec.

He lost his dominance in the final and ended up on rank five (133.5/132m; 269.8points). Michael Neumayer missed the podium by only 0.7points. As always, he showed some of the farthest jumps of this race (133.5/136m; 271.4points) but the judges points (in this case he only would have needed 0.5x2) always seem to let him end up on a lower place. But we have to underline positively judge A, Yutaka Minemura, who gave him the points that the whole rest of the top ten could get. To explain a bit more: No matter how nicely an athlete jumps, if it is not far, he could never get a 19.0 or 19.5. But how farther he jumps, the better the points are, even though he has a small weak point in his jump. Neumayer got a 17.5 for his first jump of 133.5m - those points do not appear again until bib No. 11. The 16.5 that he got for the same jump do not appear on the list until bib No. 36. Some people do get a 15.0 for putting a hand in t.snow, Michael Neumayer already got those points for a telemark.

But let's have a look at the rest of the field. The Slovenian team presented itself as a strong one having 3 athletes in the top ten. Peter Prevc finished sixth (129.5/132.5m; 267.9points), while Jurij Tepes landed close behind him (129/134m; 266.9points). Anders Jacobsen became best Norwegian athlete today with 130.5 and 132m. Qualification winner Piotr Zyla must be really satisfied with his performance. He grabbed the ninth place ahead of Severin Freund, who finally seems to become friends with the Granasen-jumping. The best Austrian is Wolfgang Loitzl, who appears on the eleventh rank (and came there from place 17). Gregor Schlierenzauer seems to miss his form or easiness. However, he only has been 16th, which made him fourth best Austrian because Stefan Kraft (14th) and Manuel Fettner (15th) have been more convincing. Noriaki Kasai has fought his way to rank twelve from 19! The old master seems to improve at the end of the season. Dawid Kubacki climbed seven places (17th). Vincent Descombes-Sevoie showed a solid performance and finished behind the Pole. The group around Andreas Wank (12-22), Andreas Stjernen (14-23) and Maciej Kot (13-24) might be really angry about there end results. Also Dimitry Vassiliev seems to lack power. He claimed the 26th place for himself. His teammate Denis Kornilov has been one place better than him.

Not qualified for the final round have been Taku Takeuchi, Rune Velta, Simon Ammann, Kaarel Nurmsalu and Matjaz Pungertar. It is said the Russian team thinks about not to start in Planica. Let's hope they change their mind.

By the way: During the whole competition no coach pushed the red gate button. The tactic game seems to be obsolet, when the conditions are that great.

And last but not least: Gregor Schlierenzauer, who recently beat the WC-victory world record, already won the WC overall ahead of Anders Bardal, because the advantage that he collected is just too big to be beaten.

The Nordic tour continues already tomorrow with the qualification in Oslo, which starts at 18.00!

We'll keep you updated about the countdown to the end of the season!

• by Peggy Kierstan (@pikayartist)