SKI JUMPING. Tom Hilde - who else? The Norwegian, who already dominated the training sessions in Hakuba, won the frist FIS GP competition in Japan. The 23-year-old laid the foundation for his victory on the Olympic hill of Nagano 1998 with a 132.5 m jump in the first round. He then secured the first place with another good jump on 125.5 m in the final. This is the first victory for Hilde this summer, and also the first triumph for Alexander Stoeckl as head coach of the Norwegian team.

"It was a good, but not an easy competition. There simply are no easy competitions. I'm in a good shape, also mentally. I like Hakuba, it reminds me a little of Norway. I will remember this day for the rest of my life, because it was my first victory in the GP", Hilde described his feelings after the competition. He already won three times in the World Cup.

With Piotr Zyla one of the strong Polish jumpers finished second. The 24-year-old showed the longest jump of the final round with 131 m and came in on the second place with (262.2 points). The third place went to the hosts: Taku Takeuchi, best Japanese this summer, proved once again how good he is and was third with 260.0 points, only the tiny margin of 0.1 points ahead of Russian Denis Kornilov who finished fourth.

Zyla and Takeuchi "new" on the podium

"I didn't do anything special, it seems the long flight was good for me. I'm very satisfied, this is the first time I'm on the podium. When I was here for the first time three years ago I was eighth. Tomorrow I just want to jump well and then I'll see the result", said Zyla about his first podium finish. And Takeuchi added: "I'm not totally satisfied with my jumps yet. But it's the first time that I'm on the podium, so of course I'm satisfied with that."

Best result for Tepes

The best Slovene was Jurij Tepes as fifth, the best result of his career in an FIS GP. Daiki Ito, last year's overall Grand Prix winner, landed on a good 6th place in his first appearance, close ahead of young Norwegian Anders Fannemel.

The Japanese could show a strong team performance in their home competition. Nine out of ten athletes of the "Air Nippon" qualified for the final round. It was also a satisfying day for the German team. Both jumpers were in the Top 10: Andreas Wank as ninth and Michael Neumayer as tenth in his first competition this summer.

Canadian Mackenzie Boyd-Clowes continues to make a name for himself with a 16th place in Hakuba, ahead of top athletes like Pavel Karelin (18th), Johan Remen Evensen (19th) and Noriaki Kasai (20th).

Morgenstern still clear leader

Ten jumpers could not make the cut for the final of the best 30, among them the two French Vincent Descombes Sevoie and Nicolas Mayer. Also Estonian Kaarel Nurmsale failed to make the cut in his first GP competition, just like Norwegian Andreas Stjernen and the Finn Kai Kovaljeff. At least his teammate Juha-Matti Ruuskanen was able to score some points as 21st.

Thomas Morgenstern, who did not take the trip to Japan, is still in the lead with 580 points. Hilde moved up to third with 303 points, behind Poland's Kamil Stoch (389 points), who is also not competing in Asia. Hilde can capture the second place in this ranking after Saturday's competition (11:00 am CET, live on FISskijumping.com).

FISskijumping.com
26.08.2011 12:35

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