Ski jumping season started last weekend - tight fight continues at Ruka

Ski Jumping’s World Cup started last weekend in Lillehammer, Norway. The winners were Japanese jumper Ryoyu Kobayashi and Austrian Daniel Tschofenig. Eventually, 29-year-old Kobayashi collected 290.5 points while Tschogenig finished with 311 points.

The best Finn was Antti Aalto who finished 21st and 24th. Another Finn was Vilho Palosaari who also competed in Lillehammer. Palosaari, however, didn’t make it through the qualifiers.

The current ski jumping season has started with a rush. The season started last weekend in Lillehammer and continues immediately in Falun, Sweden. Falun is a familiar competition venue from cross-country skiing, but in the last 20 years there has been only one ski jump competition.

Last year in Ruka, the winners were both German jumpers: Pius Paschke and Andreas Wellinger. On the contrary, this season has started badly for Germany. Pasche was in 27th place in Norway. Experienced 35-year-old Paschke has won six World Cup competitions but recently his jumps have left something to be desired.

The ski jump weekend will start on Friday at 6 PM with the qualification round. Jumping continues on Saturday at 4 PM when the competition is set to begin. A compact 2nd round will take place on Sunday, as the qualification is in the morning and the competition starts in the afternoon.

Finnish Ski Jumping Team at  Ruka Nordic

Antti Aalto
Niko Kytösaho
Jarkko Määttä
Eetu Nousiainen
Vilho Palosaari
Kasperi Valto
Paavo Romppainen

Text: Konsta Niininen
Pictures: Emmi Ovaska