SKI JUMPING WORLD CUP. Thomas Morgenstern is the man of the hour. The Austrian also won the second competition in Engelberg and celebrated his fourth victory in a row. But on Saturday it was a neck-and-neck race with Poland's Adam Malysz, who seems to get in a great shape right on time for the 4-Hills-Tournament. "Both jumps were a bit late, but I'm still on the podium. Now I just have to show my best jumps and then I will be able to win again", Malysz said.

Engelberg podium - day 2, photo © fisskilumping.com

Malysz was in the lead after the first round, but Morgenstern had a technical problem and could not jump in the final. Malysz showed a jump on 135 m and after that Morgenstern was allowed to jump, he posted 135.5 m and won with 291.0 points. The Polish superstar closely missed his 39th World Cup victory with 288.8 points. The third place went to Finland's Matti Hautamaeki (284.8 points), who is in a great shape this season. "It was not perfect, but I'm very satisfied. If I can jump that well again tomorrow I have a realistic chance to be on the podium again", said Hautamaeki.

Morgenstern: Problems before final jump

"My zipper broke, my heart stood still for a moment. I tried to find a solution with duct tape and so on. But then it worked. We cut it open a little bit more and then used safety pins", Morgenstern explained what happened. He remained cool and captured his 18th World Cup victory. "It's no additional pressure for me to be the top favorite at the 4-Hills-Tournament after these results", Morgenstern added.

"I told him that I will jump first, because there was no point in wasting time. Maybe he won because of that?", Malysz told and then added some praise for his rival. "Morgi is jumping very well at the moment. I have to jump even better to beat him."

Finally there were great conditions at the hill in Engelberg and so it was an exciting competition. Ville Larinto jumped 140 m in the final round and moved up from the 14th place to fifth. Anders Bardal showed a jump on 137 m. The fans saw great performances of the world's best ski jumpers.

Karelin confirms Friday's performance

Pavel Karelin once again showed a convincing performance for the Russian team. After finishing seventh on Friday, the best result of his career, the 20-year-old from Nishny Nowgorod again achieved a top result as tenth.

84th podium result for Adam Malysz

A lot was written about the young Polish jumpers before the season, but then it was veteran Malysz who achieved the first podium result of the season for the team. It was his 84th podium result. Three Poles made it to the final, Kamil Stoch was 12th, Marchin Bachleda 25th.

Two Italians in the final

A good day for the Italian team: With Sebastian Colloredo (27th) and Andrea Morassi (28th) two athletes of head coach Roberto Cecon scored points. Best German was Stephan Hocke (16th), he showed that his nomination for the World Cup was a good decision. Severin Freund was eleventh after the first round but lost a couple of places in the final. He finished 18th.

And also the Swiss team didn't have much to celebrate. Andreas Kuettel and Remi Francais could not qualify for the competition, Simon Ammann was again not on the podium and came in ninth.

Ahonen form for the 4-Hills

Some well known jumpers did not reach the final on Saturday. A bit more than a week before the 4-Hills-Tournament as his personal highlight, Janne Ahonen is not in a good form. So far he scored only seven World Cup points, today he was only 34th.

Also the Germans Michael Neumayer and Michael Uhrmann and Antonin Hajek, Jakub Janda and Lukas Hlava from the Czech Republic were not in the final. Slovenian hope Peter Prevc could not meet the expectations in Engelberg.

Morgenstern will end the year in "Yellow"

Thomas Morgenstern will wear the Yellow Bib at the opening event of the 4-Hills-Tournament. With 525 points his lead is big enough. Andreas Kofler is second with 380 points, ahead of the two Finns Larinto (321 points) and Hautamaeki (311).

FISskijumping.com
18.12.2010 15:57

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