Ski jumper Katharina Althaus increased her chances of winning the Raw Air Tour with a win on her favorite hill in Lillehammer.
The triple world champion from Planica won in Norway for the seventh time this season and is in second place overall with 1424.1 points, just behind the leading Ema Klinec (1444.9). The Slovenian had to settle for sixth place.
Althaus flew on 131.5 and 125.5 m and won ahead of world champion Alexandria Loutitt (Canada) and overall World Cup winner Eva Pinkelnig (Austria).
“I actually always jump quite well here. The landscape here has something magical about it,” said the 26-year-old on “ARD”. For Althaus it was the 15th World Cup victory of her career, six of which she got in Lillehammer.
Ski jumping: Selina Freitag convinced as fourth
Selina Freitag also presented herself strongly in fourth place. The team world champion defended her third place in the raw air series after twelve of 14 jumps with 1406.1 points.
The winner of the tour receives prize money of 40,000 euros, and places two (15,000) and three (5000) are also rewarded. The decision will be made on Sunday at the first ski flying in history for women in Vikersund, which is no longer part of the overall World Cup.
Only the best 15 jumpers in the overall standings, who must be at least 18 years old, are eligible to start on the “Monsterbakken”. The third German also includes Anna Rupprecht, who took 23rd place on Tuesday and is 14th overall. The jumping started 90 minutes later than planned because of the difficult wind conditions.