At Holmenkollen

Pinkelnig jumps to fifth place in wind lottery

Eva Pinkelnig(Bild: GEPA)

Austria's female ski jumpers failed to finish on the podium in the large hill competition at Holmenkollen on Saturday. Eva Pinkelnig was the best ÖSV athlete in the World Cup competition, which was stopped after one round due to strong winds, finishing in fifth place just ahead of overall World Cup leader Nika Prevc. Victory went to the Norwegian Silje Opseth ahead of the German Katharina Schmid and compatriot Maria Eirin Kvandal.

Jacqueline Seifriedsberger was the second best Austrian in tenth place, Chiara Kreuzer was 13th. The jumping in Oslo was characterized by numerous wind-related interruptions, the longest of which occurred before the last jumper. After Pinkelnig landed at 120 m, Slovenia's Prevc had to wait around half an hour before she was allowed off the beam.

"It was a long day. I was perfectly prepared, even for the difficult conditions. The hours of sports psychology in the summer pay off in that you stay with yourself in moments like this. All in all, I coped well. I'm very, very happy," said Pinkelnig. In the battle for the overall World Cup, the Vorarlberg native reduced the gap to Prevc to 169 points with six competitions still to go.

(Bild: GEPA)

Qualification winner Kvandal retained the lead in the "Raw Air" ranking, Pinkelnig is fourth. The action continues on Sunday with the second competition in Oslo. The women's ski jumping team will then move to Trondheim before the Flugbakken in Vikersund awaits at the end of the "Raw Air".