SKI JUMPING: Takanashi ends Lundby’s win streak at six in Ljubno

Japan's Sara Takanashi (Photo: FIS)

The conditions were much less than ideal, with so much wind that the qualifying round for the women’s jumpers in Ljubno (SLO) had to be canceled.

Then, after all 59 starters had completed the first round of jumps, the winds came up again and the competition was delayed again.

But after the final round did get completed, it was Japan’s Sara Takanashi who claimed her first World Cup win of the season and the 56th of her career, and ended Norwegian star Maren Lundby’s six-event winning streak.

Lundy won the first event on Saturday, with Takanashi second, but the tricky conditions on Sunday, Takanashi was best.

“I am so happy to finally win a World Cup competition this season,” she said. “It was a difficult and long day, but I tried to stay focused and concentrated on my technique. I would like to thank all the fans and our team for their support. I am really looking forward to the competition on the big hill in Obertsdorf next weekend.”

Lundby also won six in a row last season, but Takanashi knows a lot about winning, too. She won 10 meets in a row back in the 2015-16 season on the way to one of her five seasonal titles.

After 15 of 24 events, Lundby still has a big lead, with 1,168 points to 943 for Katharina Althaus (GER) and 806 for Takanashi.

In the men’s jumping at Lahti (FIN), Poland’s Kamil Stoch won his second straight World Cup to edge a little closer to seasonal leader Ryoyu Kobayashi. But he didn’t gain much, as Kobayashi was second, for his 14th medal in 20 competitions this season.

With eight events left, most of them off the giant ski-flying hills in Norway and Slovenia, Kobayashi leads Stoch by 1,460 to 1,029, with Stefan Kraft (AUT) third with 967. Summaries:

FIS Ski Jumping World Cup
Lahti (FIN) ~ 9-10 February 2019
(Full results here)

Men’s 130 m hill: 1. Kamil Stoch (POL), 280.9; 2. Ryoyu Kobayashi (JPN), 263.7; 3. Robert Johansson (NOR), 260.1; 4. Stefan Kraft (AUT), 257.1; 5. Halvor Egner Granerud (NOR), 255.7.

Men’s Team 130 m hill: 1. Austria (Aschenwald, Schlierenzauer, Hayboeck, Kraft), 953.6; 2. Germany, 942.6; 3. Japan, 929.5; 4. Poland, 925.7; 5. Slovenia, 877.3.

FIS Ski Jumping World Cup
Ljubno (SLO) ~ 9-10 February 2019
(Full results here)

Women’s 94 m hill I: 1. Maren Lundby (NOR), 268.9; 2. Sara Takanashi (JPN), 263.7; 3. Ursa Bogataj (SLO), 262.6; 4. Katharina Althaus (GER), 260.9; 5. Juliane Seyfarth (GER), 260.4.

Women’s 94 m hill II: 1. Takanashi (JPN), 233.9; 2. Lundby (NOR), 221.8; 3. Seyfarth (GER), 216.8; 4. Nika Kriznar (SLO), 215.9; 5. Lidiia Iakovleva (RUS), 203.5.

Women’s Team 94 m hill: 1. Germany (Vogt, Rupprecht, Seyfarth, Althaus), 1,001.3; 2. Slovenia, 975.9; 3. Austria, 936.9; 4. Japan, 934.3; 5. Russia, 914.6. Also: 10. United States (Logan Sankey, Tara Geraghty-Moats, Nina Lussi, Nita Englund), 362.1.