Gregor Schlierenzauer fought back and won the skiflying event at the Kulm in Bad Mitterndorf. It was his seventh victory in skiflying, so the 20-year-old ist the most successful skiflyer in history. Matti Nykaenen from Finland and Poland's Adam Malysz won six times. "This victory means a lot to me. Skiflying is my thing and to win at home is awesome. After the fifth place on Saturday I wanted to give it all again. I was fighting and it worked out great", said the new record holder.

After his fifth place on Saturday, Schlierenzauer was unbeatable today in front of about 30 000 fans with 401.7 points. Yesterday's winner Robert Kranjec could not endanger the victory of the exceptional athlete from Austria. The Slovene (392.6 points) finished on a great second place, followed by Harri Olli from Finland (388 points), who stood on the podium for the second time this season. With the places one and two Kranjec is now one of the favorites for the skiflying World Championships in his home country Slovenia.

Kranjec showed a 204.5 m jump in the final and raised the pressure on the leader Schlierenzauer. But the Tyrolean countered the attack with a jump of 205 m.

Olli is back

Martin Koch closely missed the podium. The Austrian came in fourth, 1.6 points behind Olli and ahead of Swiss Simon Ammann. "I was close, but I couldn't show my best jumps", said Koch. Wolfgang Loitzl finished on a good sixth place in his hometown.

22-year-old Czech Antonin Hajek once again proved his good shape and was seventh, after he was already fourth yesterday. He beat the great Adam Malysz, who was eighth.

Uhrmann best German

"In general I did quite well. The results were constant and I had a good feeling in all three jumps", said Michael Uhrmann, who was best German as eleventh. Pascal Bodmer, who never flew beyond the 200 m mark so far, was not that satisfied. "I never really flew these days. I look forward to returning home now and then we start again", the 19-year-old, who came in 20th, told.

Roar Ljoekelsoey - a four-time skiflying World Champion - did not reach the final. His teammate Johan Remen Evensen showed the longest jump of the whole weekend in the first round: 210 m. But shortly after that the jury decided to reduce the inrun length and the Norwegian landed already after 195 m. But still he was best Norwegian as ninth.

Morassi 14th - Final without Russians

Italian Andrea Morassi achiebved his best result since the sensational podium finish two years ago in Oberstdorf. He came in 14th. A great team performance was shown by Austria with seven jumpers among the best 18. Five Poles made it to the final round, but their second best behind Malysz was only on place 25 (Lukasz Rutkowski). Krzysztof Mietus (27th), Stefan Hula (29th) and Marcin Bachleda (30th) completed the good result of the team of head coach Lukasz Kruczek. The Russian team had nothing to celebrate: None of them reached the final round.

Schlierenzauer once again took the lead in the overall World Cup from Ammann. With 796 m he is now two points ahead of the Swiss.

FISskijumping.com
10.01.2010 16:33

Bill Demong stars in mountain stage

It was all about strength and stamina on the second day of competition in Val di Fiemme. Who would have enough will to keep on climbing uphill, without resting, always maintaining a stable rhythm without risking hyperacidity? Bill Demong was the answer to all questions. The 2009 world champion celebrated a remarkable triumph in the Nordic Combined "mountain stage" to Alpe Cermis as he finished in 33:49.9 minutes. 15.3 seconds behind the American, his team mate Todd Lodwick came in second, thus securing a historic moment in sports history: for the first time, a U.S. duo stood on top of the podium as winner and runner-up in a World Cup contest. They were joined by Germany's Eric Frenzel (+24.1).

Just by looking at the numbers, everybody knew that all athletes were in for a special and unusual race. A total distance of 9 kilometers, a final climb of 3700 meters, an altitude difference of 425 meters - and above all, a merciless gradient of 14 percent that rose to 28 percent at the steepest part of the course. Excellent running form, strength and staying power had to come together - Demong described a special experience afterwards: "It was a totally different race for all of us. I did not really have a certain strategy today. My goal simply was to stay motivated throughout since the climb was tough and seemed endless."

Since a collapsed inrun forced the postponement of the morning's ski jumping, Friday's provisional round determined the starting order. Hence, Anssi Koivuranta (132 meters/130.6 points) began, with Russia's Sergej Maslennikov (127.5/126.4) following 17 seconds later. As third athlete, Johnny Spillane (130/124.9) took to the course with a deficit of 23 seconds. However, the trio did not have much to do with the final outcome: Koivuranta finished 10th (+1:24.1), Maslennikov 34th (+3:48.1) and Spillane 22nd (+2:11.2).

Instead, others showed their class during the hunt to Alpe Cermis. In the opening stages of the enduring climb around the 6.5 kilometer mark, the leading group included Demong (who had started as 7th with a deficit of 35 seconds), Norway's Magnus Moan (26th/1:16), Lodwick (5th/0:24) and Spillane. The latter fell behind first, and after battling two broken sticks, failed to make up any ground. Of the remaining trio, Magnus Moan was the first to struggle and lost contact to the American opponents at the 7.4 kilometer mark. He paid tribute to his strenuous pace in the beginning, when he closed a gap of 76 seconds against the leading athletes. The U.S. duo on the other hand had little trouble in defending their position until their arrival. For Demong, it was his first podium result this winter and overall eighth victory of his career: "Even with only 200 meters remaining, I was still unsure whether I could do it. I've been having problem throughout the winter. But now, my confidence should grow - everything is possible at the Olympic Games!"

The battle for third place was hard-fought until the last moments. Just 200 meters before the finish line, a group of Jason Lamy Chappuis, Felix Gottwald, Pavel Churavy and Eric Frenzel closed in on Magnus Moan. Frenzel then was able to turn up the pace once more, thus edging the opposition and reaching the podium 24.1 seconds after Bill Demong. Later, Frenzel recounted the effort: "I am absolutely flat, my thighs were practically burning. It was an extremely difficult race. Everybody had to search for the best rhythm and had to mind not to push too hard. But I did alright in the end." Indeed, he did - already for the fifth time this season, Frenzel finished a contest in third place. Gottwald, who had started as 45th (+1:45), followed Frenzel (+28.8), while Moan (+34.2), Churavy (+41.2) and Lamy Chappuis (+54.5) came in fifth to seventh.

With their aforementioned historic achievement to show for, the U.S. team is looking forward to the Olympic Winter Games even more motivated than before. While Lodwick did not want to overstate the importance of the Alpe Cermis mountain stage in regards to the Vancouver competitions, he nevertheless said that "each and every race says more about our potential. We seem to be ready for the Winter Games and now have to preserve the momentum."

FISnordiccombined.com
10.01.2010 16:52