Kamil Stoch takes second Gold; 41-year-old Noriaki Kasai on rank two!

Kamil Stoch takes second Gold; 41-year-old Noriaki Kasai on rank two!

15/02/2014 22:14

After the trial round had to be cancelled due to changing wind conditions, the competition started with a delay of 15 minutes.

Polish fans now have another reason to celebrate their champ Kamil Stoch. The 26-year-old became double Olympic champion tonight! After his victory on the Normal Hill last weekend, he won his second gold medal on the Large Hill. With his first jump on 139.0 meters which was the furthest in the first round he made the first step towards another medal. Due to still changing wind conditions he couldn’t reach more than 132.5 meters. Anyway, in the end this was enough to beat the 41-year-old Japanese Noriaki Kasai by only 1.3 points. He jumped on 140.6 and 133.5 meters.

Also the young Slovene Peter Prevc can be happy about the results from his second Olympic Games. The bronze medal is taken from the Slovene Peter Prevc who already won silver on the Normal Hill the weekend before. He landed his jumps at 135.0 and 131.0 meters (274.8 points).

Disappointing competition for Austrian and German athletes

After the German team around Severin Freund had to go through lots of criticism due to his fall in the first round of the Normal Hill competition and the disappointing results from his teammates, team Germany is facing another result without any medals.

The best German today, Severin Freund missed the podium by only 2.6 points behind Peter Prevc. In the first round he made the second furthest jump with 138 meters. Unfortunately, he couldn’t repeat this performance in round two and landed a bit too early on 129.5 meters. Angry and disappointed he left the outrun of the hill.

Second best of the Germans became the youngster Marinus Kraus who turned 23 on February 13th. In the first round he reached 131.0 meters which was only enough for a place in the middle of the field. In round two he surprised with a width of 140.0 meters and improved rank for rank until he finished 6th.

The last German who reached the final round was Richard Freitag on rank 21 (122.5 and 126.5 meters; 242.1 points).

The 18-year-old Andreas Wellinger has had really bad luck with his jump. He was sent off while there were bad wind conditions again. He couldn’t help it and landed on only 117.0 meters which was place 45 for him – end after one round. He surely expected some better results at his first ever Olympics.

Also the Austrians are still left without a medal in the men’s competitions. Thomas Morgenstern who made his comeback last week after his horrible fall at Kulm ski fyling hill couldn’t make it to the final competition round. Just as Wellinger he had to face unpredictable wind conditions during his jump. He landed after only 122.0 meters. In an interview with German TV channel ZDF he told that he couldn’t believe the competition is held under those unpredictable conditions and that it’s just insane to not interrupt the event for some minutes.

Four Hills Tournament winner Thomas Diethard finished 32nd with his jump on 126.5 meters.

Second best Austrian was the 22-year-old Michael Hayböck. With widths of 134.0 and 125.5 meters (254.7 points) he reached the 8th place right behind the record World Cup winner Gregor Schlierenzauer. The 24-year-old who was very disappointed with his 18th place on the Normal Hill seemed to be satisfied with his both jumps today (132.5 and 130.5 meters) although it still wasn’t enough for a medal. The difference in points between him and bronze medalist Peter Prevc were 19.6 points.

A lot of surprises on the Large Hill

From upwind over crosswind to tailwind changing conditions were the reasons for some more surprises. Four time Olympic champion Simon Amman who lost his good shape right before the Olympic Games caught another pack of average jumps (125.5 and 131.0 meters) and finished 23rd. Sadly, no 5th medal for the 32-year-old Swiss who will still decide about his possible career end after this season.

Only Italian in the second round – and one of the positive surprises today – was Sebastian Colloredo. Whether he finished last, it is a good result for the 26-year-old as he struggled a lot with his shape since the season had started in November.

Anders Fannemel became 5th and was the best Norwegian today (twice 132.0 meters; 264.3 points).

Once more, Anssi Koivuranta was best of the Finns. After a strong first jump on 131.5 meters despite tailwind he was 5th after the first round. He couldn’t repeat his good performance in the second try and landed on 121.5 meters which threw him back on rank 11. Janne Ahonen who made his comeback with the goal to win a medal in an individual competition, finished 22nd (126.0 and 123.0 meters; 241.3 points).

The furthest jump in the final round was reached by local hero Dimitry Vassiliev who suddenly had much upwind that carried him to 144.5 meters. As he has had problems with his knees at the landing, he couldn’t stand the jump and had to grab into the snow with both hands which was the reason for bad style points from the judges.

In spite of the changing wind conditions which stayed constantly towards the end of the competition, it was a very exciting final on the Large Hill with the three deserved medalists Kamil Stoch (POL), Noriaki Kasai (JPN) and Peter Prevc (SLO).

- Evelyn - (@_SkiJumping01)