Courchevel was in the dark about the winner of the mixed-team competition

Courchevel was in the dark about the winner of the mixed-team competition

15/08/2013 20:25

It was a tight fight for the victory as well as for the third place of the last mixed-team event of this summer season in Courchevel, France.

Japan, consisting of Yuta Watase, Yuki Ito, Sara Takanashi and Taku Takeuchi entered the scene as the absolute favorites of the day. But who read the names of the participating German athletes, could have been sure of a tensing race: Michael Neumayer set the farthest jump of the day with 136.5m, which is only half a meter less than Stoch’s hill record from 2011. In the second round he gave 132m on top to Andreas Wellinger’s top performances (121.5/125.5m from a demanded lower gate) and Svenja Würth’s and Ulrike Grässler’s trustworthiness.

Hence, Japan started with less luck than the Germans: While Yuta Watase, who’s often underrated, showed 133.5m and 123m, Taku Takeuchi fell after 114m because of landing one-sided. This cost the leadership that they also had because of Yuki Ito (115/124.5m) and Sara Takanashi (130.5/125.5m). Among the girls, no one managed to outnumber this 16-year old Japanese girl.

But despite of Takeuchi’s fall, the competition remained close. Japan (428.0points) was only 21.6points behind Germany after the first round. The surprise of the day on the other hand was team Canada that presented itself really sovereign (430.1points). At this time, the French jumpers have been fourth.

In the second round, Canada lost its advantage (given by Atsuko Tanaka (124/121.5m) and Mackenzie Boyd-Clowes (134!/128m) and fell back to the fifth rank. Although both youngsters, Taylor Henrich and Dusty Korek left some meters, the team was able to state that they are there for fighting and claim to be taken serious.

Although France was eager to show a great performance at home, no one wanted to bet on them getting a place among the top three. But after Lea Lemare (116/119m) and Coline Mattel (121.5/120m) saved the mistakes of Nicholas Mayer (119/116m) and Vincent Descombes-Sevoie, who disappointed himself more than the crowd with his first try of 107m, team France climbed on the podium with a four-point advantage ahead of Slovenia.

Slovenia counted on young athletes, such as Maja Vtic (128.5m), Eva Logar and Nejc Dezman (127.5m), as well as a strong Matjaz Pungertar (131m) and missed the podium by a small inch.

The United States (with Nicholas Fairall, Sarah Hendrickson (really unsatisfied with 115 and 117m), Jessica Jerome and Michael Glasder) jumped on place 6, Italy (consisting of Davide Bresadola, Andrea Morassi, Elena Runggaldier and Evelyn Insam (coming back after her knee surgery)) gained No.7 and Russia (Ilmir Hazetdinov (showing a good result), Denis Kornilov, Anastasiya Gladysheva and Irina Avvakumova) finished on the eighth rank. Nice to mention is Davide Bresadola’s amazing performances (132.5!/119m), which have been worth a fourth place two times.

As Austria has to work with those that are there during the summer, no one really had them in the top five. Unfortunately, even following places weren’t in reach for Katharina Keil, Ulrich Wohlgenannt, Jacqueline Seifriedsberger and Markus Schiffner. Ulrich Wohlgenannt, who recently won the FIS-Cup in Kuopio, had a really good training jump, left out the trial but didn’t reach his first performance in the competition (118.5m). Jacqueline Seifriedsberger (129.5m) and Markus Schiffner (122.5m) were doing an acceptable job but the young blood simply wasn’t competitive against the best that some nations offered. Also the Czech team had to say good-bye after the first round, although Antonin Hajek and Roman Koudelka, were showing jumps worth a third place (129.5 and 130.5m).

But back to the fight for the victory: Nearly all jumpers have been down, leaving Germany and Japan holding breath for the last jump of Taku Takeuchi- but before he could leave the bakken, all electricity left Courchevel. And so the tension vaporized into waiting and frustration. When he went down, the TV couldn’t broadcast pictures of his jump and some viewers already left the scene. However, 123.5m by Takeuchi has been a little too less for winning this- to be honest, it was 4.2points too little. Germany became the proud winner with 965.8points.

• By Peggy Kierstan (@pikayartist)