2022 Beijing Olympics – Ski Jumping – Women’s NH Ind. 1st Round – National Ski Jumping Centre, Zhangjiakou, China – February 5, 2022. Ursa Bogataj of Slovenia in action. REUTERS/Kai Pfaffenbach
February 5, 2022
By Mitch Phillips
ZHANGJIAKOU, China (Reuters) -Ursa Bogataj sent Slovenia into raptures when she won a gripping women’s Olympic normal hill ski-jump competition on Saturday, with compatriot Nika Kriznar taking bronze and Germany’s Katharina Althaus having to settle for silver again.
No Slovenian had previously won an Olympic ski jumping gold, though Peter Prevc claimed silver and bronze in Sochi in 2014, the year the women’s event was added to the programme.
They were always in the hunt to change that on Saturday as a trio sat in second, third and fourth after the first round – but with Althaus leading and the last to jump.
Kriznar, who set the standard in the practice session earlier on Saturday with a 107.5 metre jump, held on to third place after her second leap.
Bogataj, 26, had laid down a marker with a hill record 108 metre first attempt, though her slightly ragged landing allowed Althaus to edge ahead via her 105.5m effort.
Bogataj’s second was 100 metres exactly which gave her a combined points total of 239. She then joined her team mates in an anxious huddle as Althaus prepared to launch. The German managed only 94 metres for a tally of 236.8, and the Slovene celebrations could begin.
“I just can’t take it all in. I can’t believe this is happening, I am just so happy,” said Bogataj, who finished 30th four years ago. “I just really enjoyed it.
“I just I don’t know how this is possible,” she said.
“I really enjoyed jumping the record and I said to myself: ‘I don’t care, whatever it is, it will be. I set the record, maybe it made me a little relaxed’.”
KRIZNAR DELIGHTED
Kriznar was equally overjoyed.
“I’m just so happy, I don’t have any other words. We are all friends so it was so nice to be together at the end.”
A tearful Althaus tried to take a positive view.
“I had a very good chance and yeah, I’m very happy to get another silver,” she said. “On my second jump I was nervous with the wait and didn’t have the best wind conditions but my jump was very good.
“My old coach always said you never lose a medal, you win a medal and I did that today.”
Japan’s Sara Takanashi, who won bronze four years ago after finishing fourth in 2014, was fourth again and, despite winning a record 61 World Cup events, remains without an individual gold at the Olympics or world championships.
Takanashi was in tears after her second jump, knowing she had missed a golden opportunity after Norway’s Pyeongchang champion Maren Lundby had opted not to defend her title, and Austria’s World Cup leader Marita Kramer was ruled out by a positive COVID test.
It was a first Olympic experience to forget for 18-year-old Canadian Alexandria Loutitt who was disqualified after her first jump because her skis were too long.
(Reporting by Mitch Phillips; Editing by Ken Ferris and Ed Osmond)
Source: One America News Network
