SKI JUMPING. Nykaenen has to start worrying about his record. The legendary Finn won 46 World Cup competitions. At the test for the Olympic in Sochi 2014, Austrian Gregor Schlierenzauer took the win - it was his 42nd. With a view towards the Olympics the Tyrolean will be happy to see that he can do that well on the hill in Russia.

With 270.7 points Schlierenzauer pretty clearly ahead of Germany's Severin Freund (265.4 points). "I feel older when I think about the fact that I already won 42 World Cups. Nykaenen's record is a good motivation for me. The hill here is very intersting and of course it's good to gain these experiences", said the winner.

"This hill has has a unique character and I find that interesting. The second jump was my best here and the landing was also okay for this distance", said Freund, who defended the yellow leader's bib with now 295 points, ahead of Schlierenzauer (282 points). These two are already a bit ahead of the rest of the field.

Andreas Kofler was the third on the podium (264.8 points). So the German-Austrian duel continued. Austrian Thomas Morgenstern came in fourth, followed by Anders Bardal of Norway and the next German, Richard Freitag. "I'm surprised by the facility. I think the Russians are doing a really good job when it comes to construction. The start of the season was not great for me, but it's getting better", said Kofler.

To the joy of his coach Goran Janus, Slovenian Jaka Hvala was seventh, ahead of German veteran Michael Neumayer. Italian Sebastian Colloredo was ninth, followed by the best Japanese Reruhi Shimizu (10th). Not far from his home country Bulgaria Vladimir Zografski finished 15th, his best result so far this season. Simon Ammann will have to show some improvement if he wants to win his fifth Olympic Gold medal in Sochi - this time the Swiss was only 17th.

Jumpers agree: The hill is good

It was a nice competition at the huge construction site near the Russian-Georgian border. The weather conditions were good, it wasn't too windy with temperatures of about 5°C. In general, the athletes like the RusSki Gorki Ski Jumping Center. "It's amazing what a huge construction site this is. But it's all done it will be gigantic", said Germany's Neumayer. Also Bardal was amazed by the ski jumping center located 500 m above sea level and about 50 km out of Sochi.

But some athletes had problems adjusting to the brandnew facility where the Olympic medals will be awarded next winter. Wolfgang Loitzl could not qualify for the final round, just like Martin Koch, who prefers large hills anyway. Surprisingly also Anders Jacobsen, who was in the Top 10 of the overall World Cup, failed to make the cut.

Seven Germans scored points - five among the best 11

Also Czech Roman Koudelka and Jurij Tepes of Slovenia have had better days than this one. Local hero Dimitri Vassiliev, who was on the podium in Kuusamo recently, could only make one jump in Sochi. The 32-year-old had definitely had higher expectations for his first home competition in the World Cup.

But his teammates Denis Kornilov (14th) and Alexey Romashov (27th) showed a good performance: Both scored some World Cup points. But how strong are the Germans? They had seven athletes in the final, the young jumpers Karl Geiger (29th), Danny Queck (19th) and Andreas Wellinger (11th) are doing great and the experienced athletes are among the best. Five Germans in the Top 11 - the German team is doing great on the Olympic hill and will leave Sochi with a positive feeling and great memories.

There's also some hope for the Finns. Ville Larinto scored his first points this winter as 24th and also Lauri Asikainen (26th) reached the final round. It was a good day for the Finnish team after all the disappointments.

FISskijumping.com
08.12.2012 15:57

  Tweet