Noriaki Kasai

Japan

  • 1972-06-06
  • Japan
  • 176 cm
Norway wins in difficult conditions despite a fall
Norway wins in difficult conditions despite a fall
Norway wins in difficult conditions despite a fall
Norway wins in difficult conditions despite a fall

Nordic

Norway wins in difficult conditions despite a fall

The Norwegians Johann Andre Forfang (NOR), Robin Pedersen (NOR, Fischer), Marius Lindvik and Robert Johansson (both NOR) celebrated a home victory in the team competition at Holmenkollen (NOR) after just one round in absolutely marginal conditions. Second place went to Yukiya Sato (JPN), Noriaki Kasai, Junshiro Kobayashi (both JPN, Fischer) and Ryoyu Kobayashi (JPN) just ahead of Michael Hayböck, Manuel Fettner, Philipp Aschenwald and Stefan Kraft (all AUT, Fischer).

Already in cross-country skiing, the wind had freshened up compared to the nordic combined skijump in the morning and caused big problems for the ski jumpers. At the bottom there was a strong upwind with up to 6m/s, and who wanted to get there, had to fight against gusty cross and tail wind with 3-4m/s. In a competition with many wind breaks after two jumpers Norway was just ahead of Slovenia with Peter Prevc (SLO, Fischer), Austria and Japan followed with six points behind. Norway's third jumper Marius Lindvik still had a huge altitude in the landing zone and could not withstand the landing pressure at 135.5 meters. The lost points Robert Johansson regained with incredible 144 meters - three meters above hill record! So Norway was unbeatable and after four jumps they were 13 points ahead of Japan, where Ryoyu Kobayashi was by far the strongest. Austria finished third mit four average jumps between 121.5 and 127.5 meters, because other teams had even bigger problems. The fourth-placed Poland convinced by Dawid Kubacki (POL), while Kamil Stoch (POL, Fischer) had no chance in the gusty wind. The German team just finished fifth after a near-fall of Karl Geiger (GER, Fischer) and a fall of Stephan Leyhe (GER), who hit the landing zone with his face. "You'd better stay at home in the living room, but then people would come in vain. Let's hope that everything goes well!", said the German coach Werner Schuster, who knew nothing about a possible ankle injury at this time. "That's marginal in any case", said final jumper Markus Eisenbichler (GER, Fischer) after his jump to 135 meters with safety landing. "It's too turbulent and then a shit like Stephan's happened. I saw he had no more pressure under the ski and then he was too far forward." The second round did not take place anymore. "We now have a stable weather report to 6 p.mp, but now we have taken so long for the first round that we did not want to hold the athletes longer. At some point should be the end", said FIS Race Director Walter Hofer. For most athletes and coaches, this cancellation was too late - with the rigorous continuing of the competition for many jumpers the overall ranking of the RAW AIR is ruined.

=> HS134 Team Oslo (NOR)

=> RAW AIR ranking