SKI JUMPING Preview: Stoch tries to defend Willingen Five title in Germany

Poland's Olympic Ski Jumping gold medalist Kamil Stoch (Photo: Ailura, via Wikipedia)

Both the men’s and women’s World Cups are in action in Germany for the final competitions before the Nordic World Championships in Austria that start next week:

Men: Second Willingen Five on the 145 m Muhlenkopfschanze

One of the new marketing trends in Ski Jumping is creating a special prize for the overall winner of a World Cup weekend, such as the two-jump event coming off in Willingen (GER). In the case of the second edition of the “Willingen Five,” the scores from all five jumps on the weekend – the Team Event on Friday and both jumps on Saturday and Sunday – are counted and medalists are determined.

In 2018, Poland’s Kamil Stoch won the inaugural Willingen Five, followed by Johann Andre Forfang (NOR) and Daniel-Andre Tande (NOR). Tande and Forfang won the two World Cup events and Stock was the leader in the qualifying.

As far as the World Cup is concerned, it’s still Ryoyu Kobayashi’s to lose:

Men (20 of 28 events):
1. 1,460 Ryoyu Kobayashi (JPN)
2. 1,029 Kamil Stoch (POL)
3. 967 Stefan Kraft (AUT)
4. 853 Piotr Zyla (POL)
5. 744 Dawid Kubacki (POL)

Look for results here.

Women: 137 m hill in Obertsdorf (GER)

The women’s jumpers will be at the popular Schattenbergschanze in Obertsdorf (GER) for jumping off a larger hill than at most women’s World Cups: 137 m.

Japan’s four-time World Cup champ Sara Takanashi ended the six-event win streak for Maren Lundby (NOR) with a win in Ljubno (SLO) last week, her first of this World Cup season.

But it may not be her last. Obertsdorf has been good for Takanashi and she is riding a six-event win streak there, having swept the World Cups on this mountain in 2016-17-18!

However, Lundby is still in control of the overall standings:

Women (15 of 24 events):
1. 1,168 Maren Lundby (NOR)
2. 943 Katharina Althaus (GER)
3. 806 Sara Takanashi (JN)
4. 746 Julianne Seyfarth (GER)
5. 528 Carina Vogt (GER)

Qualifying is on Friday and there are competitions on Saturday and Sunday. Look for results here.