. world ski news : Morgenstern ahead of Evensen and Hilde - 04 December 2010 - 22:16
SKI JUMPING WORLD CUP. Thomas Morgenstern beat the strong Norwegian team in their first home competition of the season. The Austrian celebrated his 15th World Cup victory with a total of 281.4 points in Lillehammer, the Olympic city of 1994. The athlete from Carinthia won with two great jumps.
Johan Remen Evensen finished second (276.9 points) ahead of his teammate Tom Hilde (273.8 points). The Austrian-Norwegian duel was completed by Andreas Kofler as fourth. “It’s a great feeling being on top again. I already had the chance to win three times this season. In the first competition Andreas was a little bit better, in Kuopio I made little mistakes but this time it worked. It’s even nicer that it was also enough to capture the yellow leaders’ bib", said the winner.
Norwegians with strong team performance
The Norwegians, who could also participate with their national group today, showed that they have many athletes who can compete on a World Cup level. Eight jumpers of head coach Mika Kojonkoski could score points in the cold this evening. Anders Bardal as tenth and Anders Jacobsen as 11th also showed very good performances.
Adam Malysz and Simon Ammann were not at the top this time. The Pole was fifth a day after his 33rd birthday followed by Swiss Ammann.
Ito establishes himself in Top 10
It went pretty well today for Daiki Ito, who had bad jumps in training at the Lysgaardsbakken. The ninth place is a good result for the Japanese.
It was another disappointing result for the German team. Michael Neumayer (19th) and Severin Freund (21st) were their best. Freund, the winner of the qualification, was relatively good in the first round but he wanted to much in the final. Michael Uhrmann, Martin Schmitt, Pascal Bodmer and Maximilian Mechler did not reach the final.
Problems in every team
But the Germans are not the only ones with problems. The Russians worry about the form of Denis Kornilov, Japanese Fumihisa Yumoto was only 50th. Finland's Juha Matti Ruuskanen was 49th. Just like the Germans, the Finnish team had only two jumpers in the final round: But with Matti Hautamaeki (7th) and Ville Larinto (8th) they were in the Top 10.
The whole Czech team could qualify for today's competition but out of the six only one made it to the second round. Only Jan Matura scored points.
Schlierenzauer only 14th
For Austria, Michael Hayboeck, who replaces David Zauner, failed to make the cut for the Top 30. Gregor Schlierenzauer is also not in his best shape right now. He finished 14th.
For the French team the situation is the same as in recent years. Only Emmanuel Chedal scores World Cup points for the "Equipe Tricolore". Vincent Descombes Sevoie is still struggeling with his form.
Morgenstern wears "Yellow"
Thomas Morgenstern will jump with the yellow Leader's Bib on Sunday. With 225 points he is now in the lead of the overall ranking ahead of Kofler, Larinto, Hautamaeki and Ammann.
FISskijumping.com
04.12.2010 18:09