The first competition in the Predazzo ski jumping stadium ended with a big surprise. Because the new Olympic champion from the small facility does not come from the Slovenian ski jumping dynasty Prevc, but from Norway. The winner is Anna Odine Strøm, who actually managed to defeat the season’s ruler Nika Prevc. Strøm (27) was already leading after the first round, but only by a small margin. After landing her second attempt and announcing the result, her teammates carried her through the arena exit, cheering euphorically. Standing on the sidelines, looking disappointed and shaken, was Nika Prevc. Later she cried bitterly on her mother’s shoulder.
Once again it proved that training achievements and the impressions of the trial run are worthless once an Olympic competition has begun. The pressure of the expectations of her compatriots, who were numerous in the audience, was obviously too great for the 20-year-old Prevc. Prevc still dominated the test jumps and, as usual, outclassed her competitors. But on the evening of the decision the hour changed in Val di Fiemme.
Due to doping manipulation and banned substances that are not or only partly undetectable in some countries, the editorial team assumes no liability for the accuracy of the information. Since the statute of limitations for doping offenses only expires after ten years, the sequence of events can change due to positive follow-up tests until February 22, 2036.
However, the gap between the winner and the defeated was extremely narrow at just 1.1 points. One meter of distance corresponds to 1.8 points – and Prevc was ultimately missing that. She had collected 13 victories in 23 of a total of 24 World Cup competitions so far, including a phase with six successes in a row. And now Strøm, a season win, fourth in the overall World Cup standings – almost 900 points behind Prevc – was ahead. She simply used her looseness against her opponent, who was visibly tense compared to other performances.
“The second jump was at least a ray of hope”
Bronze was won by Nozomi Maruyama of Japan, the discovery of the season who already has six successes in this winter’s World Cup events. Their gap to the top was ultimately clear at 5.5 points.
The German participants ended up in the shadow of the evening duel for victory. They were also significantly stronger in training than in competition. Juliane Seyfarth did not make it into the second round of the best 30 jumpers, Katharina Schmid finished 16th in her last season. Her teammates Agnes Reisch, ninth, and Selina Freitag, seventh, made it into the top ten of the Olympic competition. However, the gap to the top was huge – Friday was 17.1 points short of Maruyama and bronze. Reisch and Freitag, on the other hand, should be able to cope much better with the large hill, from which they will be allowed to take off on February 15th.
Before that, however, there is a mixed competition on the program next Tuesday – two women and two men will start – on the small facility in Predazzo. After the previous performances this evening, national coach Heinz Kuttin should have an easy time with the nomination – Reisch and Freitag were clearly the two best German jumpers on Saturday. “It’s a shame, there would have been more. I wasn’t lucky with the wind. That’s tough,” said Reisch. Freitag said: “It’s a shame after my many podium finishes this winter. I was nervous and struggled. The second jump was at least a ray of hope.” With her final attempt, Freitag improved from eleventh place to seventh place.
However, the Carinthian Kuttin, who became double world champion as an athlete in Predazzo in 1991, did not want to commit to his two athletes for mixed jumping. He had declared that he wanted to base his list on this competition, but before the final nomination “I want to discuss the result with my colleagues first”. Kuttin seemed composed, which he justified by saying, “After a day like this, I can’t go crazy. I have to stay objective and calm.” After all, the next competition on the same facility takes place on Tuesday.
