Takanashi secures ski jumping World Cup win in Lillehammer

Sara Takanashi was overjoyed after securing her second win on the ski jumping World Cup circuit this season, topping the podium ahead of Slovenia's Nika Kriznar in Lillehammer. The Japanese star recorded jumps of 130.0 metres and 132m on the HS 140 large hill to prevail with a points total of 291.5, finishing 6.4 points clear of nearest rival Kriznar.

Ad/> Kriznar posted jumps of 133.5m and 131.5 to finish in second place, having secured normal hill individual bronze and mixed team gold at the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics. Ski JumpingKriznar catapults herself to World Cup gold in Hizenbach27/02/2022 AT 22:40 Fellow Slovenian Ursa Bogataj completed the podium with jumps of 135.0m and 125.0m for 282.3 points, with overall World Cup leader Marita Kramer of Austria settling for fourth (271.8 points).

Speaking after her 62nd World Cup victory, which puts her sixth in this season's standings, Takanashi said: «I'm extremely happy about this win, I'm a bit lost for words right now. »I was very nervous after the Olympic Games and wasn't sure how I would do here, but I love this place and it worked great today, that's why I'm so happy." Kramer leads the overall standings with 1,045 points, with Kriznar second on 821 and Bogataj, the individual Olympic champion, on 761.

Kriznar also leads the Raw Air standings after she was the top performer in the prologue in Lillehammer. Ski JumpingUrsa Bogataj wins ski jumping World Cup as Slovenia dominate26/02/2022 AT 19:50 /> Ski JumpingWow, wow, wow! — Quality from Kraft as he delivers winning jump in Lahti25/02/2022 AT 22:44