. world ski news : Takeuchi strong - Austrians in shape - 10 March 2012 - 20:35
SKI JUMPING. The Japanese are doing really well in the final competitions of the season and prove those wrong, who say that their shape is not that good anymore if they are not home for a longer time.
But Daiki Ito and Taku Takeuchi show consistent top performances. Taku Takeuchi was the best in the qualification for Sunday's competition on the Holmenkollen. Also Ito, who is pre-qualified, showed a very good jump on 129.5 m. Veteran Noriaki Kasai was also doing very well on the legendary hill in Norway - he was 12th in the qualification.
Takeuchi landed on 131.5 m with a shorter inrun and reached a total of 129.1 points. Martin Koch of Austrian was second with 128.8 points, followed by Jernej Damjan of Slovenia (127.9 points). Manuel Fettner (4th) and David Zauner (8th) also achieved top results for the Austrian team. The pre-qualified Thomas Morgenstern (134 m), Gregor Schlierenzauer (12.5 m) and Andreas Kofler (129 m) had long jumps as well - so the Austrians can hope for a great result on Sunday. Last year they won all titles at the World Championships here in Oslo.
Ammann good again
Also Simon Ammann showed a good performance in the cradle of nordic winter sports. He was sixth in the qualification, behind Czech Lukas Hlava. Best Norwegian was Anders Fannemel as seventh. Krzysztof Mietus achieved a good result for Poland as ninth, Kamil Stoch skipped the qualification round. Italy's Sebastian Colloredo finished tenth.
All five Germans could qualify for the competition, but none of them achieved a top result. Ville Larinto narrowly missed to qualify for the competition,
Hilde not qualified
Tom Hilde has more problems after his fall in Oberstdorf that he might have expected. He could not qualify for his home competition on the legendary ski jumping hill. Surprisingly also Jurij Tepes failed to make the cut.
The fight for the overall World Cup will continue in Sunday's competition. Anders Bardal has a lead of 112 points ahead of Schlierenzauer, who jumped better today than the Norwegian. Bardal landed after 124.5 m in the qualification.
FISskijumping.com
10.03.2012 19:18