Austria’s Eva Pinkelnig won the FIS Grand Prix in Rasnov (ROU) on Saturday. The 32-year-old prevailed in a thrilling competition ahead of top favorite Ursa Bogataj and Nika Prevc (both SLO).
For Pinkelnig it was the first participation in a Grand Prix this summer, the first victory in a Grand Prix, and Pinkelnig also stood on the podium for the first time ever in a Grand Prix.
With this, Pinkelnig achieved the exact same feat as her teammate Manuel Fettner four weeks ago. Fettner had celebrated his first Grand Prix victory in Courchevel (FRA). “I thought I’d just copy that from my teammate” Pinkelnig joked. “I didn’t expect to win here today, but now I’m even happier about my first win in the Grand Prix” explained the cheerful winner after her success.
Second-placed Slovenian Ursa Bogataj was also satisfied with her second place and continues to lead the Grand Prix overall standings by a clear margin (360 points). Second in the Grand Prix overall ranking with 240 points is Nika Kriznar (SLO) who had to miss the start today because of an ankle injury she sustained during training yesterday. Third is French Josephine Pagnier who finished 8th today.
Nika Prevc, the sister of the three extremely successful Prevc brothers (Peter, Domen, and Cene), celebrated her first podium finish in the Grand Prix.
The fourth place in the day’s rankings went to France’s Julia Clair, who showed another strong performance after her third place in Courchevel four weeks ago. Fifth went to Nagomi Nakayama from Japan, one place ahead of Silje Opseth (NOR) and Slovenia’s Maja Vtic.
Local hero Daniela Haralambie finished 13th, best DSV athlete was Juliane Seyfarth in 18th place.
For the women, the next competition on Sunday morning is the Mixed Team in Rasnov (together with the men). The start is at 10:45 a.m.
