SKI JUMPING WORLD CUP. Martin Koch finally made it: In his 210th World Cup competition he celebrated his first victory. And it was well deserved! With 210.5 m and 213 m the 28-year-old showed the longest jump in both rounds and won with a total of 425.2 points ahead of his teammate and 4-Hills-Tournament winner Thomas Morgenstern (421.9 points).

Martin Koch of Austria soars through the air during the Ski Jumping World Cup in Harrachov. Koch won his first World Cup event here on Saturday beating compatriot and Four Hills champion Thomas Morgenstern. (AFP/Michal Cizek)

Adam Malysz (416.6 points) finished third, to the joy of the many Polish fans who took the short trip over the border to Harrachov.

Robert Kranjec from Slovenia, known to be a very good ski flyer, was fourth, followed by Gregor Schlierenzauer, who achieved his best result of the season as fifth. It was the plan of the Austrian to gain self-confidence with the ski flying, and that seems to work. Simon Ammann from Switzerland was sixth, Tom Hilde was the best Norwegian as seventh.

Romoeren loses podium result

Bjoern Einar Romoeren lost the chance for a podium result in the final round. The Norwegian was already unstable in the inrun and under difficult conditions he landed already after 160.5 m and, after being second after the first round, he finished eighth.

In front of about 10 000 fans the Czech local heros Roman Koudelka (10th) and Jan Matura (11th) achieved top results. Best German was Michael Neumayer as 14th.

Not all of the stars travelled to the Czech Republic this weekend. For example the father-to-be Anders Jacobsen, Andreas Kofler, Pavel Karelin and Janne Ahonen or Michael Uhrmann and his teammate Severin Freund who take break after the exhausting 4-Hills-Tournament.

Also the best of the Japanese team did not take part, Noriaki Kasai and Daiki Ito are training in Japan. So Kazuya Yoshioka as 25th was the only member of the "Air Nippon" who could score points.

Naglic with good World Cup debut

Some jumpers had their first appearance of the season in Harrachov. Ilja Rosliakov from Russia scored three points as 28th, 21-year-old Tomaz Naglic from Slovenia made a very good debut in the World Cup with a 26th place. Norwegian Ole Marius Ingvaldsen came in 17th, a career best for him.

Many jumpers with problems

It was a difficult first round on the demanding Certak-Hill. Many athletes had problems with the tail wind conditions. Only the best could handle the difficult winds.

Norwegian Vegard Haukoe Sklett almost fell terribly in the first round. The wind pushed the skis downwards, but the 24-year-old could stand the jump. A false reaction and he would have somersaulted. Three German jumpers could not qualify for the final round: Danny Queck, Maximilian Mechler, who jumped 208 m in the qualification, and Christian Ulmer due to a disqualification.

No points for local hero Hajek

Also Antonin Hajek, who grew up close to the hill and usually is a good ski flyer, didn't make the cut for the final round. This shows one more time that a ski jumper who is not in a good form can't achieve a good result in ski flying.

With his tenth podium finish of the season Thomas Morgentern extended his lead in the overall World Cup ranking. He has now 983 points, second placed Kofler scored 621 points so far.

FISskijumping.com
08.01.2011 18:11

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