Sara Takanashi also won the second FIS Grand Prix
in Nizhniy Tagil, Russia, within 24 hours. Like
on the day before, Coline Mattel (FRA) came in second.
The third place on the podium went to Katharina
Althaus (GER), who was fourth on Friday. The Russian
hosts had a chance to achieve a podium result after
the first round. Irina Avvakumova could not keep
her nerves and fell back from third to seventh.
Just like on Friday, mixed-team World Champion Takanashi
was in a league of her own. While Mattel posted
longer jumps in both rounds with 94.5 m and 100
m, it was the better technique that earned Takanashi
her lead of 13.7 points. "It was my best weekend
this summer. Today I was a bit late at the take
off but the flight phase was good then. I'm satisfied.
Next weekend I'll try my best to also win twice
in Almaty.“
Mattel was once again struggeling with the telemark
landing. "I think my jumps were better than
yesterday, especially the second one, but the landing
is still not very good. The first jump was good
and I was closer to Sara Takanashi. The second jump
was very good at the take off. It can still be better
and I can still improve my level step by step. I'm
very satisfied with the weekend, my jumps were much
better than at the beginning of the summer."
Another 15 points behind, Germany's Katharina Althaus
finished third and was happy about it. "I'm
definitely satisfied. I showed to really good jumps
again today. This is my first podium result and
I'm very happy about that. The hill is good for
my technique, that was already the case in training.
I'm not going to Almaty, because I have to go to
school on Monday."
Avvakumova had a podium result within reach after
her first jump on 93 m, but due to a jump on only
87 m in the final she came in behind Austrian Chiara
Hoelzl, Atsuko Tanaka of Canada and Slovenia's Katja
Pozun (SLO), who was third in Friday's competition.
Behind the second-best athlete of Slovenia, Ursa
Bogataj, also Julia Kykkaenen of Finland and Anastasiya
Gladysheva of Russia achieved Top 10 results. Dutch
Wendy Vuik finished on a good 16th place. The Italians
showed a solid team performance - but only in the
second part of the result list. The came in 11th,
14th, 18th, and 21st.
Before the final competitions in Almaty (KAZ) a
week from now, Takanashi now leades the overall
ranking with a total of 325 points, already 116
points ahead of Coline Mattel. Katja Pozun (166
points), Katharina Althaus (156 points) and Irina
Avvakumova (134 points) only have mathematical chances
to win the overall title.
