SKI JUMPING WORLD CUP. Thomas Morgenstern is only one step away of winning the 4-Hills-Tournament. 22 000 fans celebrated the victory in Innsbruck together with their idol. This was the third time in a row that an Austrian was the best in Innsbruck, it was Morgensterns first triumph on the traditional hill in the middle of the Tyrolean capital.

The 24-year-old clearly won with 266.5 points and with 129.5 m and 126.5 m he showed the longest jumps in both rounds. Adam Malysz finished second with 128 m and 123 m and a total of 257.5 points.

Ammann almost 30 points behind

Tom Hilde landed on the podium of the third competition of the 4-Hills-Tournament as third. After the disappointing results in Oberstdorf and Garmisch-Partenkirchen this was a real sign of life of the athletes around head coach Mika Kojonkoski.

With 681.7 points in the overall ranking Morgenstern already has a lead of almost 30 points ahead of his main rival Simon Ammann (654.4 points), who was only fourth today. Adam Malysz is third with 638.5 points, Matti Hautamaeki from Finland, fifth in Innsbruck, is fourth (638.4 points).

Bischofshofen the icing on the cake

Morgenstern made it very clear in all jumps on the Bergisel, that he is the one to beat. He showed one good jump after the other and if he can only take half of this self-confidence with him to Bischofshofen, he will win the 4-Hills-Tournament. Morgenstern already won there last year.

Besides the winner, also Manuel Fettner (6th) and Andreas Kofler (7th) and Wolfgang Loitzl (9th) achieved top results for Austria - the Bergisel was in the hands of the Austrians. The comeback of Gregor Schlierenzauer was not perfect. On his home hill he finished 18th. The fans where still celebrated him.

Uhrmann and Bodmer on the up

Michael Uhrmann showed a jump on 126.5 m (same distance as Morgenstern) in the final round and moved up from 18th after the first jump to eighth. Pascal Bodmer was tenth and proved the upward trend of the German team. Also Richard Freitag (19th) seems to establish himself in the Top 30. "We have a good atmosphere in the team and that's good for everyone of us", explained Bodmer.

Karelin strong again - Kasai is leaving

Peter Prevc was by far the best athlete from Slovenia as eleventh. "I can do even better when I think less about it", he told FISskijumping.com. Russian Pavel Karelin showed his consistency again as 12th. After the first round he was fifth.

According to his own statement Noriaki Kasai, who was 22nd, will not take part in Bischofshofen. "We have important competitions in Japan ahead of us", said the 38-year-old after his 20th competition in Innsbruck.

Overall World Cup: Morgenstern with clear lead

Thomas Morgenstern leads in the overall World Cup ranking with 823 points. Andreas Kofler is "best of the rest" as second with 561 points, followed by Ammann (511 points), Hautamaeki (476 points) and Malysz (454 points).

FISskijumping.com
03.01.2011 16:27

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