Karl Geiger and Andreas Wellinger won the second super team competition of the ski jumpers in Rasnov (ROU) on Sunday evening. The German “super team” consisting of two skijumpers won sovereignly ahead of the teams from Slovenia and Austria. It was only the second super team competition in ski jumping history, the premiere had taken place last weekend in Lake Placid (USA).
It was a very wet evening at the HS 97 metre hill in Rasnov. Especially in the second and third rounds, the athletes had to deal with continuous rain and the fact that the jumping suits are difficult to protect from the rain and get soaked with water.
“The problem was the extremely heavy rain, we all had totally wet suits after quite a short time, but it was the same for everyone. On the other hand, the iorun track was pretty ok until the end, I was afraid that the track would suffer more,” explained Ziga Jelar who finished second with his teammate Maksim Bartolj.
“That was an absolutely cool weekend – to finish 2x at the top is terrific. Winning with the team is always something special.
I worked myself in well during today’s competition and finished with the best jump. That was the perfect preparation for Planica,” said Andreas Wellinger, who after a 6-year-long drought has returned to the top of the world after his victories in Lake Placid and now in Rasnov.
Third place went to Clemens Aigner and Philipp Aschenwald, Team Austria finished just 2.5 points behind the Slovenians.
Philipp Aschenwald said: “This was my first super team competition. It was an exciting competition. I think an earned third place. I am even more satisfied with the jumps today than yesterday, even if the second one was perhaps not quite as good. Overall, though, we’re very happy with third place.” At the super team premiere in Lake Placid, the team from Austria with a different line-up (Kraft / Tschofenig) had finished second.
Team Norway finished in fourth place, Poland in fifth place and Team USA with Casey Larson and Andrew Urlaub in sixth place provided one of the positive surprises of the day. Switzerland and Team Japan completed the top 8.
The teams from Italy, Ukraine, Romania and the Czech Republic collected valuable World Cup points in 9th-12th place.
For the ski jumpers, the Nordic World Ski Championships in Planica (SLO) will be another highlight on the programme next week. The men will compete in four medal events: Two individual and two team. The first competition: normal hill single is scheduled for 25.2.
