Gregor Schlierenzauer repeated last year's triumph in Willingen and celebrated his 32nd World Cup victory ahead of 16 000 spectators. The Austrian, who had a bad jump in the trail round, laid the foundation for this victory in the first round. He had a perfect take-off and showed the longest jump of the round with 142.5 m although the jury reduced the inrun during the round. In the final round he jumped 137 m, shorter than the leader Anders Jacobsen from Norway. But at the end it was enough. Schlierenzauer scored 273.7 points, Jacobsen 269.0 points. After his victory in Oberstdorf, Jacobsen was on the podium again and showed that he is in the right shape for the Olympics.
 
The duel between Austria and Norway for the prize money of 100 000 Euro for the FIS Team Tour winner is not yet decided. Thomas Morgenstern finished fourth, 0.1 points ahead of the second best Norwegian Tom Hilde, who was fifth.
 
Neumayer on the podium
To the joy of the fans at the "Muehlenkopfschanze", local hero Michael Neumayer jumped on a sensational third place. Last year he didn't make it to the final, this time he was on the podium. Awesome. This was the second podium finish of his career for Neumayer.
 
Michael Neumayer Video-Interview »
 
But also the teammates of Neumayer showed a great competition. Michael Uhrmann was tenth, followed by Martin Schmitt as eleventh. Severin Freund (19th), Pascal Bodmer (21st) and Andreas Wank (24th) completed the good result of the German team.
 
Great team performance of the Austrians
Once again the Austrians were outstanding. Not only did Gregor Schlierenzauer win again and Thomas Morgenstern finished fourth. No, Junior World Champion Michael Hayboeck landed on a great sixth place, David Zauner was eighth and Andreas Kofler was ninth. Five Austrians in the Top 10, that's not bad. Jakub Janda achieved a top result for the Czech team as seventh, the best of this season.
 
The Norwegians showed that they have good chances to win a medal at the Olympics, at least in the team competition, maybe even Gold. Because Anders Bardal and Johan Remen Evensen finished 12th and 13th.
 
Schlierenzauer makes up points
The only Pole in the competition, Grzegorz Mietus, showed a good competition. He made it to the final and scored some World Cup points as 20th. A good result for the 18-year-old. Andrea Morassi also achieved a very good result as 18th. Unfortunately his Italian teammates Sebastian Colloredo and Diego Dellasega were disqualified due to too big suits. Both would have scored World Cup points. But still the Italians showed that there's something going on on the other side of the Alps.
 
Gregor Schlierenzauer, who travelled to the airport in Paderborn right after the competition to start his trip to Vancouver, made up 100 points and is now only 57 points behind Simon Ammann, who did not compete in Willingen.

FISskijumping.com
06.02.2010 18:40

First victory for Germany since 2005

The German jumpers are getting the right shape for the Olympics. They won the team competition in Willingen, the last event before the Olympic Games. Lead by Michael Uhrmann and Michael Neumayer, but also a strong Martin Schmitt, the Germans celebrated the first victory in a team competition since 2005, when they also won in Willingen. Only Pascal Bodmer still has some room for improvement. "We beat the Norwegians and that was very good for us. It was a nice feeling to hear the national anthem, it's been a while since the last time. Today's victory is worth nothing at the Olympics, but our shape is good. We go there to have a good time", said Uhrmann.
 
Norway finished second and Anders Jacobsen and Tom Hilde were their best athletes. Only Bjoern Einar Romoeren could not keep up with his teammates. The second string of the Austrian team, Junior World Champion Michael Hayboeck, Florian Schabereiter, David Zauner and Stefan Thurnbichler, came in third. "I'm very confident when it goes about Vancouver", said Jacobsen, who's in a great shape at the moment. He told Berkutschi that he wants to return home from Vancouver with a Gold medal.
 
100 000 Euro for Austria
But it was not only about the victory today - it was also about 100 000 Euro prize money. In the final event of the FIS Team Tour, Norway had to make up 40 points against Austria without their best jumpers. It was a close race until the end. It soon showed that Norway will be better today, but would it be enough for the 100 000 Euro?
 
No, because the final jumper Zauner showed a jump of 142 m, only Jacobsen jumped farther, and secured the money for the Austrians. "We can be proud of today's result. Austria has a great B-team", said former nordic combined skier Zauner.
 
Slovenia was fourth, the Finnish B-team was fifth. The French showed a strong competition and finished seventh.
 
Poland and Russia not in the final with the B-teams
Without their best jumpers, the teams from Poland and Russia had no chance to reach the final round of the best eight teams. Poland was only tenth, close behind the Italian team. Russia was only twelfth, behind Kazakhstan.
 
But, for example, Japan made it to the final round even with the B-team. Yuta Watase, 37-year-old Akira Higashi, Kazuya Yoshioka and Fumihisa Yumoto finished sixth.
 
The next competition of the winter is a very important won. Because the events in Willingen were the last before the Olympics. Next Saturday the fight for Gold, Silver and Bronze on the normal hill will be on at the XXI. Olympic Winter Games.

FISskijumping.com
07.02.2010 16:41

  Tweet