Otto Niittykoski took the S 14 category
- Sandra Volk
Male Categories – Finland’s Future Looks Bright
It was another successful day for the Finnish boys
at the FIS Children’s Grand Prix event in Oberstdorf
(GER). The Finns took four of the six podium places
in the two boys’ divisions. It total, Finland had
eight athletes make the podium in the two days of
competition.
In the boys’ S13 age group, two Finns topped the
standings after the ski jumping part of the competition.
Perttu Reponen led the pack with a jump of 50.5
meters, while his teammate Waltteri Karhumaa was
one meter behind him in second place. The dynamic
duo, who also took first and second place yesterday,
out-paced the pack in the race and once again found
themselves atop the podium on the second day of
competition. This time Karhumaa took first place
with Reponen finishing 11 seconds behind, reversing
yesterday’s top-two. Germany’s Lenard Kersting rounded
out the podium 39 seconds behind.
The boy’s S14 age group saw two Austrians leading
after the ski jumping, but in the race, the Finns
once again showed their dominance and took first
and second place.
The tight jumping results set up a thrilling finale
race as the top-five athletes were separated by
a mere seven seconds. In the end, Otto Niittykoski
(FIN) won the second day’s competition with an impressive
skating effort finish, topping teammate Rasmus A"hta"va"
by 31.7 seconds despite entering the race with a
32-second time disadvantage. David Sachsenhofer
took third place, finishing nearly a minute behind
Niitykoski.
Female Categories – Diversity among the females:
Three nations win three categories.
In the girls born 2000-2003, Maja Drinovec (SLO)
had an incredible race to steal the first-place
finish from teammate Kaja Coz Urbanija who took
second-place a mere four seconds off the winning
pace. Urbanija won yesterday’s competition, but
today Drinovec overcame a 21-second deficit for
the surprise win. Lucille Morat (FRA) took third
place thanks largely to a strong jumping performance.
Morat (FRA) and Urbanija both jumped 54.0 meters
and were also equal on points going into the race
with 97.4 and started only three seconds ahead of
Josephine Pagnier (FRA), setting up a thrilling
race. But in the end Drinovec’s skating was the
difference as she earned the second-day title.
For the girls born 1996-1999, once again Timna Moser
(AUT) dominated the field with a jump of 56.0 meters
and 109 points, giving her a 22-second head start
in the race. She closed the jumping round three
meters ahead of Germany’s Lena Selbach, who ended
well behind on points with 98.6. Just like yesterday,
the 22-second lead was too large for any of the
field to overcome as Moser skated to her second
victory in as many days, topping Norway’s Tonje
Bakke by 17.5 seconds. Anna Berktold (GER) finished
in third place, crossing the finish line 28.5 seconds
behind Moser.
Lea Zufle took her second victory in as many days,
beating her four competitors in the competition
from Oberstdorf’s K30 hill where she ranked an intermediate
second place but once again overtook Finland’s Emilia
Sorvisto on the track. It was de'ja` vu as Sorvisto
and Zu"fle sprinted for the finish line with
the German once again taking the win by a slim margin
of 2.3 seconds.