As expected, the two top favorites from Slovenia won the Ski Jumping Grand Prix in Courchevel (FRA) on the HS 135-meter large hill. Double Olympic Champion Ursa Bogataj won clearly ahead of her teammate Nika Kriznar. Third place went to France’s Julia Clair.
“Today I was certainly also a bit lucky with the conditions and I am happy with my performance today, I hope I can take the form from today to the upcoming competitions. My jump in the first round was much better than the jump in the final, but I am satisfied. Of course, it would be nice to win the Grand Prix but for me, it is very important to compete in the competitions to take the competition experience from the summer into the winter” explained Bogataj, who now leads the Grand Prix with 40 points (280 points) ahead of her teammate Nika Kriznar (240 points), who was second today. Bogataj had already won the 2021 Grand Prix in Courchevel and thus laid the foundation for the overall Grand Prix victory in 2021.
Second-placed Nika Kriznar was not completely satisfied after the competition: “I am satisfied with the result, but not with my jumps. I have the feeling that I still have a lot of reserves and that I can jump much better than I showed here today, and I wasn’t lucky with the wind today either. But now I’ll put it behind me and look forward to the next competitions”, Kriznar said.
Third place went to a Frenchwoman, but not to Josephine Pagnier, who had been considered a co-favorite again after her third place in Wisla two weeks ago, but to her teammate Julia Clair. For the 28-year-old Clair, a third place meant her best result so far in the summer. In winter, Clair had already stood on the podium once (Planica) in 2014. “I am overjoyed with my third place today, I really didn’t expect that. This is something very special here in front of your own spectators. This hill in Courchevel is not easy to jump, especially at this time of day when the conditions can change. We have a very small team but now we have already managed two podium finishes this summer, I hope that we can build on these successes in the winter,” said Clair.
With Nika Prevc (SLO) and Josephine Pagnier (FRA), the fourth and fifth places went to Slovenia and France.
Luisa Goerlich, the best athlete of the German Ski Association, finished in sixth place, Anna Rupprecht, Pauline Hessler, and Katharina Althaus came in 10th, 11th, and 13th.
Selina Freitag was not at the start in Courchevel after a training fall last week, at the same place. Freitag had fallen head over heels after landing and suffered injuries to her face, but after the following MRI examination head coach Maxi Mechler was able to give the all-clear: “No serious injuries to Freitag”.
The Canadian bronze medalist (mixed team) from Beijing, Abigail Strait, caused a moment of shock in the competition with a fall after 128 meters. Similar to Friday in training, Strait fell forward after landing, the helmet protected Strait from bad facial blisters, Strait competed again in the final and was still 7th despite the fall.
Yuka Kobayashi and Italian Lara Malsiner shared 8th place.
For the ladies, the Grand Prix continues after a long break on 17. and 18. 9. in Rasnov (ROU). After that already the Grand Prix final in Klingenthal (GER) will follow.
