. world ski news : Next victory for Japan in Courchevel - 16 August 2012 - 18:31
SKI JUMPING. The long trip to Courchevel was definitely worth it for the Japanese team. After they won the premiere of the mixed team competition the athletes from the Far East could also celebrate a victory in the men's individual event. Reruhi Shimizu was the best this time.
The only 18-year-old youngster reached a total of 272.7 points and defended his lead after the first round with a jump on 124 m in the final. He won ahead of Germany's Andreas Wank (270.3 points), who only missed the victory by 2.4 points. Wank moved up from fourth to second in the final round. "I already had a good feeling in the trial round and I'm really happy that I could these jumps also in the competition", said the happy winner.
"Although my performance was not perfect, I'm absolutely satisfied. Of course there's always something to improve but for this was the best result in summer so far. Now I'm looking forward to going to Hinterzarten and maybe I can do even better there than in Courchevel", said Wank.
Also Tom Hilde was on the podium. The Norwegian, who is already in a good shape and shows nice jumps consistently, was third with 269.2 points. With this performance Hilde was by far the best of the Norwegian team, Andreas Stjernen was 14th, Bjoern Einar Romoeren 17th. "This was a really great competition today. I'm so happy about this result and I want to continue that way. Our team is getting better and better. We have to focus on the important things and then we will be able to be among the best", said Hilde.
It almost seemed like some kind of Japanese championships with international participants. The "Air Nippon" showed an outstanding team performance. Besides the winner also Yuta Watase (4th) and Junshiro Kobayashi (9th) were in the Top 10. And Sho Suzuki and Kento Sakuyama as 12th and 13th completed the great team result.
Kot defends overall lead
Also the Polish athletes had some good jumps in the French Alps. Dawid Kubacki, who is doing great the third summer in a row, was fifth, Maciej Kot was seventh and confirmed his performance of the opening event of the GP in Wisla, where he was on top of the podium. Michael Neumayer finished on a good eighth place, Simon Ammann completed the Top 10. Kot leads in the overall ranking of the Grand Prix with 136 points ahead of Wank (109 points) and Ammann (106 points).
The performance of the French was really impressive. Nicolas Mayer as well as Alexandre Mabboux showed great jump in front of their home crowd. Mayer - the 21-year-old is from Courchevel - achieved a career-best as sixth. Mabboux came in on a good 19th place, it was a good day for the hosts who already did well in the mixed competition.
Germany's Pascal Bodmer not only won the qualification, he already jumped very well in the mixed team competition the day before. But in this event it didn't go that well for "Bodo", he was only 28th. A little setback on his way back to the top.
Under relatively consistent tail wind conditions the one or the other experienced athlete had some problems on the Olympic hill of 1992. German Richard Freitag, Jakub Janda, Noriaki Kasai and Jan Matura could not qualify for the final of the best 30. Jurij Tepes of Slovenia and Russian Anton Kalinitschenko were disqualified.
The struggle the Finnish team was facing last winter also seems to continue this summer. None of their athletes reached the final round, they also had no chance in the mixed competition. It's definitely not a good time for the traditional ski jumping nation that had athletes like Matti Nykaenen, Toni Nieminen or Janne Ahonen on their team. Sami Niemi failed to qualify, Olli Muotka could not make the cut for the second round.
The GP already continues on Friday in Hinterzarten with the qualification. Another mixed competition will be held there on Saturday, before the individual event will be held on Sunday.
FISskijumping.com
15.08.2012 19:01