COC 2014/2015 – a season’s review

COC 2014/2015 – a season’s review

That is it. Last weekend we saw the last COC competitions of the 2014/2015 winter season. 26 competitions in nine different countries were held from 12th of December 2014 until 15th of March 2015. As every year there were athletes we expected good results, athletes who surprised us, athletes who are disappointed by themselves, athletes who reached the world cup because of their good results in the second league but also athletes who had to leave the world cup and go back to the COC because they could not show their best performances.

The Overall Winners

This year’s best COC jumper comes from Slovenia and is called Anze Semenic. The 21 year old won three competitions inter alia the last two of the season in Nishny Tagil and gained three more second places. At the end he had 901 points on his account 263 more than the second placed. On top of these results he got his chance to perform in the Skiflying World Cup in Vikersund and finished 26th and 27th.

The second place in the overall ranking goes to the Kenneth Gangnes. The young Norwegian had a great season finally without any grave injuries and was able to win one competition in Tittisee-Neustadt. He can also call three more podium places his own and also he was part of the world cup team in eleven events this season.

21 points behind Gangnes Miran Zupancic from Slovenia completes the top three of the COC. He was able to win one competition in Sapporo and reaches on more second place in Engelberg. He is the only jumper in the top three who did not jump any world cup competition this season.

Five points behind Zupancic German Olympic Champion Andreas Wank came in fourth but jumped more World Cup competitions than COC competitions.

The Surprises

We saw some surprises, positive and negative this year in the different competitions. The biggest surprises were made in the competitions in Japan. US-Boy William Rhoads was able to get his first ever podium as he reached the second place in the first competition there.

Also the Dutch jumper Lars Antonissen showed three really good competitions their which let him be in the second round in all competitions. Also he was able to qualify for the second competition at the World Cup in Oslo.

Winners of the season

There are two jumpers who are the winner of the season even we did not saw them in so many COC competitions. Johann Andre Forfang from Norway won one out of the first three competitions of the season in Rena and got the second place in the other two. After these great results Alex Stöckl gave him the chance in the world cup which he used brilliantly. With a third place at the competition in Vikersund and also the 23rd place in the overall ranking he showed that he can be a rising star in the next season. On top he won the Junior World Champion title in the individual and also in the team competition.

The second jumper who really made profit out of his good COC results in the first competitions in Rena is Stephan Leyhe. The 23 year old German was able to win the first competition of the winter and after the injury of Andreas Wellinger he joined the German World Cup team in Engelberg. After he jumped the four hills tournament and reached some Top 20 results in the World Cup he returned to the COC before the World Championships. With two more second places he finished sixth place in the overall COC ranking with 502 points.

Disappointments

It is always hard to talk about disappointments and for sure it is also hard to judge performances of the jumpers but at the end of the season you have the results and can talk about. Andreas Wank from Germany is definitely one of the jumpers who won´t be satisfied with season at all. After becoming team Olympic Champion in Sochi one year ago this season did not go well for him. After the 4-Hills competition in Garmisch-Partenkirchen he joined the COC team and achieved four podiums including one victory in Iron Mountain. But as well as he was able to win a competition in the COC he also finished 47th in Lahti. But now at the end of the season he showed that his shape is getting better again.

Now all the athletes get the break they deserved to charge their empty batteries and for sure they will all be back for the COCs summer round!

By Carolin Steinhäuser

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