Thomas Morgenstern could once again win his favorite competition. The Austrian, who won in Sapporo twice in 2008, celebrated his 14th victory in the Japanese coastal town with 271.5 points. "My third victory in Japan. I would never stay home when there's a competition in Sapporo. I like this country a lot. I have a lot of self-confidence after Bischofshofen. I hope that it'll go on like this", said Morgenstern.

Andreas Wank finished on a sensational second place. The German (267.5 points) showed the longest jump in the final round and moved up from seventh after the first round to second overall - his best World Cup result. "What shall I say? A dream came true for me. I know that I had some luck with the wind, but I would to repeat this result as soon as possible."

Daiki Ito (266.3 points) was third and represented Japan on the podium. For Ito this was the fourth podium result of his career, the second this season. "To stand on the podium in a competition at home is the greatest thing an athlete can achieve", Ito told.

Noriaki Kasai was in the lead after the first round, but the 37-year-old only jumped 112.5 m in the final and finished sixth. Stefan Thurnbichler came in fourth, followed by the new overall World Cup leader Simon Ammann as fifth.

Zauner and Spaeth in the Top Ten
David Zauner, former nordic combined skier, was ninth in his World Cup debut. So he was the fourth best of his team behind Martin Koch. In his comeback in the World Cup in the Far East Georg Spaeth reached the final round for the first time this season. He showed a good performance and a very good final jump brought him the tenth place. So Spaeth can still hope for a place in the Olympic team.

Like always in Sapporo, the wind made the job of the jury difficult, but the conditions on Hokkaido have been a lot worse in the recent past. Apart from a few short breaks the competition went smoothly.

After his great performances in Bad Mitterndorf, Czech Antonin Hajek could also achieve a good result in Japan. The 22-year-old finished eleventh. Best Pole: Lukasz Rutkowski as 13th. The best Finn was Olli Muotka as 14th.

Ten Japanese score points
The veterans Kazuyoshi Funaki, Akira Higashi, Jakub Janda and Anders Bardal were already out afte the first round. Also Akseli Kokkonen would have wished for a better comeback for Norway. The neo-Norwegian was last. In general it was not a good day for the Norwegians. Best athlete of head coach Mika Kojonkoski was Andreas Stjernen as 17th. He was the only Norwegian in the second round.

It went better for Takanobu Okabe. The 39-year-old reached the final round and scored his first World Cup points of the season, even if only two. The Austrians were the only "big" team that could place all athletes in the Top 30. Out of the four Slovenes that took part only Primoz Pikl scored points. 

Ammann "in yellow" again
Simon Ammann scored the most points this season so far. The Swiss (839) is now ahead of Schlierenzauer (796) again. Morgenstern is fourth, behind Andreas Kofler.

The second competition in Sapporo will take place Sunday, already at 2:00 am CET. The qualification starts at 1:00 am CET.

FISskijumping.com
16.01.2010 11:05