Marius Lindvik became the Norwegian team’s best man in Sunday’s World Cup race in Willingen after two landings of 142 metres.
The Rælingen ski jumper had a podium place within reach, but could not quite keep up with the competitors in a final round with several floats over 150 metres. Lindvik was in fourth place after a half-finished competition.
A solid length from the first jump was also copied by Lindvik in the second. It lasted for a fifth place in the end.
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Germany’s Andreas Wellinger jumped from seventh place before the final to victory. With 149 meters in his final swing, he won ahead of Japan’s Ryoyu Kobayashi and Gregor Deschwanden from Switzerland.
The latter landed a whopping 152 meters in the second jump, one meter behind seventh-placed Slovenia’s Timi Zajc, who had the competition’s longest jump.
Norwegian anticlimax
The day after Johann André Forfang’s ground record of 155.5 metres, and Norway’s first World Cup triumph of the season, the same man failed to follow up the sensational record.
Tromsøværingen was somewhat late in his effort on the first jump. Despite favorable wind conditions, Forfang had to settle for 130 metres, over 25 meters behind Saturday’s record lift on the same hill.
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It was enough for a place in the final round, but Saturday’s supreme winner did not make it into the top 20 after one jump.
In his second soar, Forfang showed some of his better strokes again and landed at 143 metres. With that, he moved up a number of places in the final results and was number 14.
Torrential rain
One of the others who failed even more was Germany’s home hope Karl Geiger. He landed at 127.5 meters and did not qualify for the second round.
In a rainy Willingen, with windy conditions that could once again invite long ski jumps for the very luckiest, the results were sometimes greatly affected. The wet and shiny ice in the upper run was also a factor that came into play for a number of jumpers.
– It is absolutely extreme how much water flows in that track. There are grooves sloping downwards which take away part of the water. If all that was to be carried down to the edge of the jump, it would be hydroplaning, noted Viaplay expert Anders Jacobsen.
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Poland’s Aleksander Zniszczol was the first jumper to really get paid well in the first round with a soar of 146 metres. That gave him a clear lead of over 30 points before the last 20 competitors went into action.
Zniszczol also led the race after the first lap, 12.4 points ahead of Kobayashi. Slovenian Lovro Kos was a further 1.2 points behind the Pole. Both Zniszczol and Kos knocked off many meters in the final jumps and dropped a number of places.
Comeback and failure
Robin Pedersen was the first Norwegian in action in Willingen, the day after teammate Forfang’s memorable hill record and triumph. With 136 metres, Pedersen managed a 14th place halfway through, and he was still leading when around a third of the jumpers had completed the first round.
Experienced Robert Johansson was also back on the Norwegian team in Sunday’s race. He landed half a meter shorter than Pedersen, but also made it to the final without any problems.
With new landings of 135 and 128.5 meters in the second half of the race, the duo Johansson and Pedersen finished in 17th and 19th place respectively.
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Kristoffer Eriksen Sundal secured his very first podium in the World Cup on Saturday when he finished in a strong third place.
The following day, the Kollenhopp athlete was fiercely offensive at the edge of the jump in the first half, and was penalized for it with only 124.5 metres. It was not good enough for a place in the final round for Sundal, who was only number 38.
Benjamin Østvold soared down to 128.5 meters in the first soar. With that, he managed to secure a place in the final, as the 30th and last athlete. He climbed two notches to 28th place with 125.5 meters in his final jump.