Severin Freund wins traditional
Holmenkollen competition
Severin Freund won the World Cup competition on
the legendary Holmenkollen in Oslo ahead of local
hero Anders Bardal. World Cup leader Kamil Stoch
was third and extended his overall lead.
"The conditions were not easy, but I saw in
the result list that I won both rounds and if you
win both rounds that says you were the best. The
audience is here is always amazing, who can feel
the history of this place. To win here is a pretty
big thing", the German said after the competition.
Freund, who was already in the lead after the first
round, jumped on 132 m and 130.5 m and with 265.4
points he came in clearly ahead of Bardal and took
his fourth win this season. The Norwegian, who won
on his home hill in Trondheim on Friday, scored
252.1 points with his jumps on 128 m and 127 m.
"It was a nice day. Of course it's special
to finish second on the Holmenkollen. Winning here
is very special for a ski jumper, but Severin was
very hard to beat already in the last World Cups.
The atmosphere here is nice. There were a lot of
Polish fans and they are making a lot of noise."
Stoch avoided a fall
Kamil Stoch could barely avoid a fall in the first
round. He reached a total of 245.4 points with 132
m and 127 m. "I?m happy with my performance
and the third place today. It was a hard competition
on a really high level and I congratulate Severin
and Anders on their performances today. I?m still
trying not to think about the overall World Cup
title, I focus on my jumps." 1.3 points behind
the Pole, Noriaki Kasai was fourth for the fourth
time this season with 125 m and 127 m. Best Austrian
was Gregor Schlierenzauer in fifth, with 123.5 m
and 125.5 m and 241.7 points. This means he still
has to wait for his first win in 2014.
Career best for Nurmsalu
Only 0.3 points behind the Austrian, Estonia's Kaarel
Nurmsalu came in on a career best sixth place. The
bronze medalist of the Junior World Championships
2011 showed jumps on 129 m and 123 m. After his
strong fourth place in Trondheim, Roman Koudelka
could again show a very good performance and finished
seventh with 240.1 points. Stefan Kraft was eighth,
only 0.1 points behind the Czech. Jakub Janda came
in on a very good ninth place with 238.6 points.
Anssi Koivuranta achieved yet another Top 10 result
in tenth.
Prevc loses ground
After he missed the final round in Trondheim, Peter
Prevc did better in this competition, but in eleventh
he still lost more ground in the fight for the overall
World Cup title. Behind 4-Hills-Tournament winner
Thomas Diethart, Tom Hilde, who won the qualification
on Saturday, came in on a good 13th place. Simon
Ammann and Manuel Fettner completed the Top 15.
Andreas Stjernen and Rune Velta were 17th and 19th
in their home event at the Holmenkollen. Reruhi
Shimizu was the second-best Japanese in 18th.
Only Freund and Stoch with good performances
Apart from their top athletes Severin Freund and
Kamil Stoch, the teams of Germany and Poland didn't
have much to celebrate. With Markus Eisenbichler
(29th) and Maciej Kot (20th) one only more jumper
qualified for the final round for these two teams.
This is probably not a good sign with a view towards
the team competition at the ski flying World Championships
in Harrachov next week. The young Slovenes Nejc
Dezman and Tomaz Naglic were 23rd and 25th and fight
against Jurij Tepes for a spot on the team. Like
in Trondheim and Kuopio, Tepes could not qualify
for the final round. Vincent Descombes-Sevoie was
28th and scored World Cup points for the first time
since December.
Stoch almost there
Kamil Stoch almost reached his goal in the overall
World Cup with 1320 points. He now has a lead of
168 points over Peter Prevc and so a seventh place
in one of the two remaining competitions in Planica
would be enough for the double Olympic Champion
to win the title. Severin Freund, 197 points behind
Stoch now, only has a mathematical chance even if
he wins twice in Planica.