SKI JUMPING. Andreas Kofler took the win in the second competition on the normal hill in Sochi, in south-west Russia. He was the only Austrian in the Top 10, but his success was all the more impressive, because with 271.3 points he was clearly ahead of the rest of the field.

The rest of the field - these were first and foremost the German jumpers, who are in an outstanding shape this season and clearly lead in the Nation's Cup. With Richard Freitag (261.7 points) and Andreas Wellinger (261.6 points), two Germans stood on the podium next to the winner. "The jumps were good today, especially in the last phase", said Freitag.

Wellinger's first podium result

And behind Anders Bardal of Norway as fourth, there followed yet another German duo with Severin Freund (5th) and Karl Geiger (6th). Andreas Wank as tenth and the "German day" in Russia perfect. Considering this strength of the team, who is still asking about Martin Schmitt, who is currently competing in the Continental Cup?

For Wellinger this was the first ever podium result in his career. This season the 17-year-old has always finished in the Top 20. Also Geiger is consistently scoring points but he has never been as good as today. Freund defended the overall lead in the World Cup with his fifth place. "Four among the Top 6, that's amazing. That's a boost for all of us", Wellinger said after the competition.

"I never would have thought that I can be among the best in the World Cup so soon. It's fantastic. I told the others that they should let me know when to success goes to my head. But I don't think it will, I'm still the same person", told the newcomer. "At the beginning of the season I achieved the good results. But when I'm not among the best others do well. That's what makes us strong as a team", said Freund.

In the stranglehold of the Germans

In the stranglehold of the Germans, the other team had a difficult time at the site of the next Olympics. Finland could score no World Cup points, only two Slovenes and two Poles were in the final, for which seven Germans and six Austrians could qualify. Of the Slovenian team, that had a good depth last season, Robert Kranjec, Jurij Tepes and Peter Prevc (after a fall) could not even qualify for the competition. A similar fate was shared by Sebastian Colloredo of Italy, who was jumping so well on Saturday.

Gregor Schlierenzauer, who celebrated with 42nd win in the World Cup yesterday, suffered a setback on Sunday. "I was a little too late at the take-off, too aggressiv, somehow it didn't work", he explained his 25th place.

It was pretty windy and athletes and jury had to struggle a bit with the conditions. It was not easy to find the right inrun length and changing winds and partly stronger tailwind, also because there's no experience of previous events on this hill.

But the competition was exciting and it ended with a well-deserved winner. Austrians head coach Alexander Pointner decided to reduce the inrun length twice for his athlete. The tactics worked, Kofler captured his 11th win in the World Cup and will leave Sochi with positive feelings.

Ammann at least eighth

Simon Ammann came in eighth and could improve his 17th place of the first competition here. Reruhi Shimizu (9th) and Taku Takeuchi (12th) achieved good results for the Japanese team. The highlight for Slovenia was the 11th place of Jaka Hvala. Best Czech was Lukas Hlava as 14th, the best of the Polish team was Dawid Kubacki (17th).

Freund now leads in the overall World Cup ranking with 340 points, followed by Schlierenzauer (288 points), Bardal (226 points) and Kofler (216 points). The series will continue next weekend with two competition in Engelberg, Switzerland.

FISskijumping.com
09.12.2012 13:49