1 Ladies (it's the first ever Olympic competition
in ladies' ski jumping)
Schedule:
Ladies:
Individual - Normal hill HS 106 on Feb. 11th
Men:
Individual - Normal hill HS 106 on Feb. 9th
Individual - Large hill HS 140 on Feb. 15th
Team - Large hill HS 140 on Feb. 17th
Facility
Built from 2009 to 2012 in Krasnaya Polyana, about
50 km from Sochi
RusSki Gorki Ski Jumping Center
610 m above sea level
Everything is possible
The situation concerning the favorites could not
be more contrary for the men's and ladies' competitions:
In the ladies' event there's one absolute favorite:
Sara Takanashi of Japan. Takanashi won ten out of
13 World Cup competitions this winter. In addition
to that, she also won two title at the recent Junior
World Championships in Italy. Takanashi sets the
standards in ladies' ski jumping in this Olympic
winter, who wants to win the gold medal needs to
jump better than the 17-year-old, but this will
be very, very difficult. Most likely, Austrian Daniela
Iraschko-Stolz is capable of doing that. Also German
Carina Vogt and Russian Irina Avvakumova, who could
win in the World Cup this winter, have a chance.
With Sarah Hendrickson, also the World Champion
of Val di Fiemme will be competing in Sochi. For
Hendrickson this will be the first competition after
a long break due to injury. Right now nobody knows
on what level the US American is jumping in comparison
to the other competitors.
There are no top favorites in men's ski
jumping
Instead there are at least 10 athletes who are capable
of winning on the normal and large hill. Poland's
Kamil Stoch and Slovenia's Peter Prevc were presenting
themselves in a top shape in the final competitions
before the Olympic Games. Then there are the two
Austrians Gregor Schlierenzauer and Thomas Morgenstern,
who is coming back on time after his serious fall
in the ski flying event in Bad Mitterndorf. And
there is Japanese Noriaki Kasai, who is in an outstanding
shape despite, or maybe because, he's already 41
years old. The two Germans Severin Freund and Andreas
Wellinger staked their claims with top results.
Norwegian Anders Bardal is one of the favorites,
the hills in the RusSki Gorki Ski Jumping Center
suit him very well. And of course 4-time Olympic
Champion Simon Ammann of Switzerland always has
to be reckoned with at Olympic Games, although he
was not able to show 100 % convincing performances
during the course of the winter so far. In addition
there are ten more athletes with a realistic chance
to win Olympic medals. It will be incredibly exciting,
that's for sure. Even experts are not able to make
any predictions right now, the first training and
the qualification will then be an indicator of who
has to be considered among the favorites.
The Slovenes are the ones to beat in the men's team
competition. They were in an outstanding shape in
the competitions over the past weeks. Their main
opponents come from Poland, Germany and Austria.
Also the Norwegians, who didn't reach their full
potential yet this winter, and the Japanese have
strong teams. All other teams only have an outside
chance.
He will not be among the best, but Nico Polychronidis,
who will represent Greece, will still attract a
lot of media attention. This is due to the fact
that the son of a German mother and a Greek father
is competing for Greece since the 2012/13 season.
Polychronidis started ski jumping Oberstdorf (GER).
The 24-year-old also competed for Germany in various
FIS competitions before he changed his nationality.
Now he will be the first ever competitor for Greece
in an Olympic ski jumping competition. By the way,
there are no ski jumping hills in Greece.