For Simon Ammann the trip to Japan was worth it. The overall World Cup leader won Sunday morning with 293.1 points clear ahead of local hero Noriaki Kasai, who, with 255.7 points, was about 40 points behind the Swiss. "This victory was worth the trip. I could improve my jumping. The take-off was powerful. This was the first victory this year and it gives me more and more power. Now I have to reconsider whether I'll go to Zakopane or not", said the winner, who laid the foundation for the victory in the first round with a jump of 139.5 m.

"This is my home hill and to be on the podium is something really special for me", said Kasai, who was the second Japansese on the podium in Sapporo after Daiki Ito on Saturday.

Morgenstern disqualified

Third was Austrian Martin Koch (255.4 points). Saturday's winner Thomas Morgenstern was disqualified because he opened the pull strap of his suit before he went through the exit gate. Very frustrating for Morgenstern, who would have been second. "It's great to stand on the podium, but I also feel sorry for Morgi", Koch said about the incident.

Hajek strong again

With Antonin Hajek, the best Czech was fourth. The 22-year-old is still in a great shape, but with 231 points he was clearly behind the podium. Andreas Wank, who achieved the second podium finish for Germany this season on Saturday, came in on a good fifth place.

Daiki Ito (6th) and Taku Takeuchi (10th) also finished in the Top Ten for Japan. Michael Neumayer achieved his best result of the season as seventh and David Zauner (9th) was in the Top Ten twice this weekend.

Norwegians and Finns disappointing

Best Norwegian was Anders Bardal as 16th - for the team of head coach Mika Kojonkoski this was a weekend to forget. It also didn't go well for Poland. Lukasz Rutkowski was the best of his team as 13th. Marcin Bachleda could also score some points as 24th. But still the Polish jumpers have to improve for the home competitions in Zakopane on the upcoming weekend.

Sunday's result proves that the Finns are only worth half as much without Harri Olli and Janne Ahonen. Olli Muotka was their best as 20th, and the only one who could at least score a couple of points. So the best Finn landed only one place ahead of the best Ukrainian - Vitaly Shumbarets was 21st. The Russian team could not score even one point on Sunday.

Good team results for Germans and Czech

Besik Hajek, the Czech team also had Jakub Janda (11th) and Lukas Hlava (23rd) in the final round. Also the Germans could show a convincing performance. With the winner of the qualification, Severin Freund (12th) and Georg Spaeth (16th) two more athletes achieved top results.

Ammann now also has a clear lead in the overall World Cup ranking. With 939 points he has a healthy margin between him and Schlierenzauer (736 points).

FISskijumping.com
Sunday 17 January 2010