. world ski news : Simon Ammann kept cool and won - 22 January 2011 - 23:29
SKI JUMPING WORLD CUP. Simon Ammann kept cool in the Polish cauldron in Zakopane and celebrated his second victory of the season. The Swiss was already in the lead after the first round and won with 276.3 points ahead of his long-time rival Thomas Morgenstern 268.9 points.
"I want to thank the audience. The atmosphere was great again. The competition was a lot better for me than yesterday. Yesterday was not my day, I didn't feel well. It's nice that I could be on the podium again. It would be a dream to win in Zakopane one day. Maybe I can make it come true tomorrow", said Morgenstern.
Third in the exciting competition, that was influenced by tail wind in the final round, was Norwegian Tom Hilde. It was his fourth podium result this winter. Hilde was the best of a good Norwegian team that seems to get in top form for the World Championships.
Strong Norwegian team
Bjoern Einar Romoeren achieved his season best as fifth, Johan Remen Evensen was also in the Top 10 as eighth. Austria's Andreas Kofler was fourth, his teammate Gregor Schlierenzauer ninth and he seems to get closer and closer to his best shape.
Two Polish jumpers in the Top Ten
A day after the triumph of Adam Malysz, no Polish jumper was on the podium this time. The 33-year-old superstar finished sixth on Saturday. One of his teammates jumped into the spotlight: Right on time for his home competitions, Kamil Stoch from Zakopane, his in the great shape again he already showed last summer. He jumped strong already in the qualification and was seventh in the competition - his seaon best.
The second competition in Zakopane was also a success for the Germans, even if the team of head coach Werner Schuster could not achieve a top result. But all six athletes reached the final round, a strong team performance. Michael Uhrmann was their best as tenth.
The two Japanese jumpers in Zakopane, Daiki Ito and Noriaki Kasai, finished 24th and 25th, with a difference of only one point. Peter Prevc was the best of the Slovenian team as eleventh. Best Czech was Roman Koudelka as 19th. Only a couple of weeks before the World Championships Jakub Janda is struggeling with his shape - he did not qualify for the final.
Finland needs a strong team
Finland is still looking for a competitive team for Oslo. Right now they can only count on Matti Hautamaeki, who was 13th today. Anssi Koivuranta scored some points as 25th, but Janne Ahonen, Olli Muotka and Kalle Keituri failed to make the cut for the Top 30.
Robert Kranjec, the figurehead of the Slovenian team, is not in a good form at the moment. Like already on Friday the 29-year-old could not score points. The same fate was shared by World Champion Andreas Kuettel and Russian Dimitri Vassiliev.
Thomas Morgenstern now has 1348 points in the overall World Cup ranking and is still clearly in the lead ahead of Simon Ammann (903 points) and Andreas Kofler (901 points). Malysz is fourth, Hilde moved up to fifth.
FISskijumping.com
22.01.2011 18:24