Ski-jumping: Slovenian women's team makes history
Tokyo, 20 January - Slovenia's women's ski jumping team finished second at the World Cup event in Japan's Zau on Saturday, which is the first podium result for the Slovenian women's team.
Ljubljana
Slovenia's women's ski-jumping team: Ema Klinec, Nika Križnar, Urška Bogataj and Špela Rogelj.
Photo: Nebojša Tejić/STA
File photo
Japan's team beat Slovenia's Urša Bogataj, Špela Rogelj, Ema Klinec and Nika Križnar by 54.9 points. Russia placed third.
The first to jump for Slovenia was Bogataj, who accomplished 90 metres and gained 91.8 points, which no other jumper in the first group could beat.
"This is great! We're all happy, but we're also aware where we need to further improve.... We're so happy with the team achievement and second place. This is unbelievable!" Križnar, the youngest on the team, told the press after the competition.
Coach Stene Baloh shared the enthusiasm, saying "we are happy with the result although each competitor could have done a metre or two more".
Admitting that part of the success came from the fact the German team was not complete, he said Slovenia showed very good jumps so the second place was a nice result.
Women's team ski jumping events are a novelty in the World Cup, so this was only the second time that women jumpers competed in a team event.
A singles event will be held in Japan tomorrow, while the World Cup series continues in Slovenia's Ljubno ob Savinji next week.
* Results: 1. Japan 761.7 points (Kaori Iwabuchi, Yuka Seto, Yuki Ito, Sara Takanashi) 2. Slovenia 706.8 (Urša Bogataj, Špela Rogelj, Ema Klinec, Nika Križnar) 3. Russia 696.1 (Anastasia Baranikova, Alexandra Kustova, Sofia Tikhonova, Irina Avvakumova) 4. Germay 672.1 5. Norway 637.1 6. Austria 633.8 7. US 498.8 8. Canada 462.9