Initially the
competitions were scheduled to the 6th and 7th of January, but due to the lack
of snow and warm temperatures (almost 20 degrees Celsius at the end of
December!) the organizers had to postpone the World Cup event to the first
weekend of March, right after the Olympic Games in PyeongChang.
After the official announcement a lot of people asked:
Will be enough snow in Rasnov at the beginning of March? Well, mother nature
solved the problem. At the end of February Romania was covered by snow. A lot
of roads were closed in Southern Romania, including the A2 highway which
connects the Romanian capital, Bucharest with the Black Sea. Luckily in Transylvania the snow
didn’t cause serious problems, so my 420 km long journey wasn’t in danger.
On the way to Rasnov
I
arrived to Rasnov on Friday afternoon, so I had watched the training rounds and
the qualification on the FIS live timing. Pictures taken on Friday afternoon,
after the qualification. This time the ski jumping complex was almost empty:
The ski jumping hills (K90, K15, K35, K64)
Dacia Duster off-road edition (car of the Romanian Gendarmerie)
The first competition day
started with the trial round at 10 AM local time on Saturday. The weather
conditions were not the best: the day started with light rain which switched to
light snowfall afterwards. The trial round was won by the Slovenian Nika
Kriznar with 94 meters, Sara Takanashi came in second (93m) and the best
athlete of this season, Maren Lundby completed the Top 3 (91.5m).
Preparations before the trial round
At 11
AM local time Susanna Forsström got the green light at the top of the tower and
the 1st round was officially underway. This time the spectators’s stand was
almost full. Due to free entry official statistics are not available, but in my
opinion the number of spectators was around 350-400 on both competition days. Before
the jumps the local DJ played a well-known song from the jumper’s homeland, for
example: Russia - Kalinka, Germany - Dschinghis
Khan, Japan - Big in Japan. During the 1st round the wind was getting stronger and
stronger. Because of the gusty wind the best athletes were in difficult
situation, but most of them managed it without any problems. After a
1-hour-long 1st round Katharina Althaus was in the lead (93.5m) in front of
Maren Lundby (92m) by only 0.3 points and the German Carina Vogt, former
Olympic and World Champion came in third with 89.5m.
Sofia Tikhonova
Manuela Malsiner
Gianina Ernst
Anna Odine Stroem
Carina Vogt
Due to the weather conditions the jury tried to start the final round as soon as possible, 10 minutes after the end of the 1st round. This time the wind was getting even worse, also at the spectators’ stand. Nobody was wondering when the start of the 2nd round was postponed by another 15 minutes, then by another 30. Finally the local speaker announced: The 2nd round will start at 13:00 local time (after an aprox. 60-minute-long break). Five minutes before the announced time, trialjumpers tested the conditions and the 2nd round was officially started with the jump of the Romanian girl, Dana Haralambie. That was a great moment, the fans were cheering for Dana and for the start of the 2nd round too. (We were frozen after the long break. :D ) The next jumper, Lea Lemare had to wait before her jump due to wind, but finally she got the green light and took the 1st place from Dana. Sadly, afterwards the jury decided to cancel the final round. Dana came to the spectators’ stand and offered autograph cards to her fans.
Saturday’s podium
On
Sunday morning the action started at 9 AM local time with the qualification for
the following competition. This time the weather conditions were much better
than the day before, every jumper had negative compensation during the whole
day. So we expected really great jumps from the best athletes. Maren Lundby
showed an extraordinary flight: 102m!!! (Don’t forget, the hill size is at 97.)
New hill record for sure, the previous one was 100.5m jumped by Sara Takanashi
in 2014. But this jump wasn’t enough for the 1st place due to her stylemarks (telemark
is not possible there :D ) and the huge deduction because of the 1.75 m/s
headwind. The quali was won by Katharina Althaus (96.5m) ahead of Lundby and
Nika Kriznar (94m).
Jacqueline Seifriedsberger
Juliane Seyfarth
Sunday’s competition started at 10 o’clock with the jump of Eva Pinkelnig. This time Maren Lundby dominated the competition, but the fight for the 2nd place between Katharina Althaus and Nika Kriznar was really tight. Lundby jumped 100 meters in the 1st round, so she had a huge advantage ahead of Althaus (94m). The difference between the German and the third placed Nika Kriznar (91m) was only 0.3 points.
Dana Haralambie
Chiara Hölzl
Nika Kriznar
Irina Avvakumova
Sara Takanashi
Katharina Althaus
Maren Lundby
Sunday’s podium
And my first ever ski
jumping weekend came to an end. But I came home with unforgettable memories.
For sure, you can’t compare Rasnov to Zakopane or Planica in terms of traditions
and atmosphere. But - as you can see on my pictures - Rasnov is a place where
you can be really close to your heroes: you can ask for an autograph, take
selfies or just wish them good luck.
A ski jumping competition
is also a great opportunity to meet the other members of the Ski Jumping
Family. I was collecting autographs when I met a Bulgarian girl. She traveled
480 km from Varna to Rasnov. It was also her first ski jumping competition, so
we could share with each other our passion and emotions about this fantastic
sport. 😊
Besides the ski jumping
hills, Rasnov Fortress and Dino Park should be visited too. This
combination is perfect for an afternoon, because the attractions are really
close to each other: five to ten minutes by walk.
If you are a ski jumping fan, you have to watch a competition live, right next to the hill. If this happens, your first competition won’t be the last. I’m 100% sure. :D
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