. world ski news : Simon Ammann just keeps on winning - 09 March 2010 - 22:36
Simon Ammann celebrated his seventh victory of the season and the 15th of his career. After the victory in Lahti at the opening of the Nordic Tournament the Swiss also won the second competition in Kuopio with 251.0 points). Like already in Vancouver and Lahti Adam Malysz finished second (234.1 points). This was the fourth time in a row that Ammann won ahead of Malysz.
"It's a lot of fun. I was already doing well the whole season, but now I'm in a great shape", Ammann said already after the first round. With a great jump in the final of 126.5 m, the longest jump in the second round, Anders Jacobsen (233.9 points) captured the third place.
Austrians on places four to six
On the places four to six landed a whole armada of Austrians. Andreas Kofler, Thomas Morgenstern and David Zauner. But they were already far behind the athletes on the podium. With Wolfgang Loitzl as eighth another Austrian was in the Top 10.
Gregor Schlierenzauer could not finish among the best ten, he was eleventh. "I don't want to blame the flu. My jumps are not perfect. I think that now Ammann won the World Cup. I just have to get in a great shape again for the skiflying in Planica", Schlierenzauer said self-critical and is already looking ahead again.
Harada's hill record without reach
The competition took place under difficult conditions on the windy Puijo-hill and the jury kept the inrun gate low although the new rules apply at the Nordic Tournament. With these rules the jury would be able to change the inrun length without making a necessary restart.
So many jumpers did not get to fly, most of them - also top athletes - had to be satisfied with not very long jumps. So the twelve year old hill record of 135.5 m, held by Japanese Masahiko Harada, was without reach. The Japanese who competed today had their problems with the hill. Noriaki Kasai was their best, five of them did not reach the final round.
Germans with problems - Descombes better than ever
After some time, French Emmanuel Chedal had a good competition today, he finished seventh, ahead of Robert Kranjec from Slovenia. A second French surprised with a 13th place. Vincent Descombes Sevoie achieved the best result of his career.
The Germans could not achieve a good team result. Michael Uhrmann and Andreas Wank couldn't reach the final. Martin Schmitt (29th) sees some changes that were made as a reason for the result. "We used this as a training, there are not a lot of jumps left this season and if I want to achieve something I need to make changes", he analyzed. "But the changes we made did not work." Michael Neumayer was only 25th, Severin Freund was the best athlete of head coach Werner Schuster as 17th.
Ammann needs 18 points
Simon Ammann is in a fantastic shape at the moment and with already 200 points to score this season, the Swiss, who now has a lead of 183 points, has already virutally won the title.
And only Malysz can prevent the victory of the 28-year-old at the Nordic Tournament. Ammann has now 535.4 points, Malysz has 504.8 points. Morgenstern (491.8 points) is third, followed by four more Austrians. Harri Olli is eighth, ahead of Chedal and Kasai.
FISskijumping.com
09.03.2010 19:09