Veerpalu, Bjoergen win cross-country races

OTEPAA, Estonia (AP) - Estonia's Andrus Veerpalu secured his first World Cup victory of the season before a home crowd on Saturday, while women's overall leader Marit Bjoergen won her sixth.

Veerpalu won the men's 15-kilometre classic in Otepaa, dominating the field to finish 42 seconds ahead of the competition, in a time of 37 minutes 17.1 seconds.

Fellow Estonian Jaak Mae finished third, behind Norwegian Frode Estil.

Germany's Axel Teichmann, who leads the overall World Cup standings, finished fifth. Teichmann has 517 points, while Vincent Vittoz of France is second with 334. Vittoz finished seventh on Saturday.

Bjoergen took home the 10K classic women's race ahead of fellow Norwegian Hilde G. Pedersen. Bjoergen won by more than 10 seconds, with a time of 27:20.2.

Katerina Neumannova of the Czech Republic finished third.

With the win, Bjoergen extended her overall lead in the World Cup to 230 points. Bjoergen has 710 points, while Smigun has 480.

AP, January 08, 2005, 11:29 AM

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Sprint meet cancelled because of storm

OTEPAA, Estonia (AP) - A World Cup cross-country sprint meet in Otepaa was cancelled Sunday because of a fierce storm that lashed northern Europe.

Both the men's and women's races were cancelled, and no new date has been set for the event.

The storm whipped hurricane-strength winds across much of northern Europe throughout the night Saturday, leaving at least 10 people dead and hundreds of thousands without electricity. By Sunday morning, the strong winds had reached Estonia, making competitions impossible, organizers said.

AP, January 09, 2005, 11:14 AM

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Spaeth does it for Germany

A colossal effort of 147.5 metres from Georg Spaeth gave the troubled German ski-jumping team a memorable home win, taking the team event in Willingen ahead of Finland and Austria. The German's finished on a combined total of 481.2 points with Finland on 466.9 and Austria on 429.6.

A competition threatened by high temperatures and heavy rain was brought to life by Georg Spaeth's vintage final pool effort.

Spaeth's 147.5-metre effort was so long that he almost ran out of landing space.

High above : Poland's Adam Malysz soars during a training jump at the team event of the Ski Jumping World Cup in Willingen. (AFP/DDP/Patrik Stollarz)

Finland's Janne Ahonen almost matched the German for length, slapping down a classy 145.5-metre leap in the day's penultimate jump.

But it was only enough to see Finland in to second, where they stayed after Martin Hoellwarth - Ahonen's nemesis at Bischofshofen - could only manage a 113-m jump, which guided Austria into third.

It did not look like being Germany's day when, in the third pool, Alexander Herr fell badly after a lengthy flight. The German was in a lot of pain after it seemed that his knee was severely twisted on impact.

Germany's Alexander Herr tumbles after his jump during the team ski jumping World Cup competition in the western town Willingen, January 8, 2005. Germany won the team competition, ahead the team of Finland in second and Austria placed third. REUTERS/Ina Fassbender

He was carried off, visibly angry, and his head in his hands. It looks like his season will be over.

Herr might have been awarded low points of 9 for style, but his long jump nevertheless kept Germany up in with a shout.

And that shout became a scream when Spaeth granted the home German fans with the lavish leap which would win the competition.

In the overall nation standings Austria (2239 points) still lead Finland (2069), with Germany now up to third (1482).

fl
Eurosport, January 08, 2005, 3:24 PM

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Ahonen's enormous 152

Janne Ahonen of Finland came from sixth to take the night event at Willingen after a monumental second round jump of 152 metres. The Finn, winner of last weeks Four Hills Tournament, made it eleven wins in thirteen events this season, edging out Austria's Martin Hoellwarth and Swiss Andreas Kuettel.

Finland's Janne Ahonen celebrates on the podium after winning the Ski Jumping World Cup in Willingen.(AFP/DDP)

On the eve of the final Four Hills event at Birschofshofen the Finnish press were getting hot under the collar about the lack of superlatives remaining for Janne Ahonen day-in, day-out habitual excellence.

The Finn had taken the first three legs, and stood poised to grab a historic Four Hills grand slam.

Finland's Janne Ahonen soars through the air during the first jump of the ski jumping World Cup competition in the western German town of Willingen, January 9, 2005. REUTERS/Arnd Wiegmann

Yet all of a sudden the Finn was beaten by Martin Hoellwarth, and the Finns had to come to terms with their national hero no longer standing on the top of the winners podium.

Ahonen nevertheless had won the Four Hills by a humongous margin, and far from being an occasion to shift the praise, it became one to further celebrate his mastery of his sport.

ELEVENTH HEAVEN

One week on and Ahonen has not let up. Following the team event last night - won by Germany despite Alexander Herr's horrific accident - the World Cup leader was back to his winning ways.

Ahonen has now won eleven out of thirteen World Cup events this season, and like the Finns, I'm struggling to find the superlatives to describe his increasingly irrisistable domination of the sport.

On Sunday night Ahonen was back to his preferred starting position: last. As the overall standings leader the Finn has the luxury of watching the field jump first, before weighing up what would be necessary.

What was required in the first run was 139-metres, the target set by the impressive pint-sized man from Japan Daiki Ito.

Ahonen, however, failed to match Ito, and his 136-metres saw him into lowly sixth position where he was surrounded by an all-star cluster of crack-ski flying talent.

All was perfectly poised for a second round face-off, with the top six - featuring Hoellwarth, Kuettel, Urhmann, and Janda, as well as Ahonen and Ito - all within a handful of points.

However, Ito's buffer - a full two metres better than Hoellwarth in second - seemed to suggest that the Japanese man was ready to seal his first career World Cup victory.

But Ito would crack in the second round, only managing a weak 132.5-metres which would keep him back in sixth.

GREAT SPECTACLE

Maybe he was in awe of what he had just witnessed? I wouldn't blame him!

For Ito followed two huge jumps by Martin Hoellwarth and Andreas Kuettel, at 146.5-metres and 141-metres respectively.

With those classy affairs the Austrian and the Swiss had coasted into second and third.

But these efforts were dwarfish in comparison to what had happened only moments previously. Janne Ahonen, starting sixth from last, sped down the launch and set off at blistering pace.

His flight was delightful, second only to the sheer length of his leap: a staggering 152-metres.

The landing slope at Willingen is helpfully covered with measurement lines, with a box-shape target for the competitors to aim for.

"To aim for" is rather an overstatement; it would be better to say "to aspire to", for rare do we see someone land their flight in this lofty zone, fit only for ski-jumping immortals.

Ito the Japanese jumper had reached the box in the first round, and a cluster of lesser men clipped the front edge of the box in the second round.

As for Ahonen's 152-metre effort... The Finn too failed to hit the box; that was merely because he left the target almost 15-metres in his wake!

The crowds went berserk, which is a huge statement considering we're talking about a highly partisan German following.

Everyone knew that they had witnessed history as Ahonen crushed the hill record, and left all the others in his quivering with apprehension, dumbstruck with awe.

The Finn thus won with 279.1 points, with Hoellwarth in second on 274.8 and Kuettel in third on 267.5.

In the overall standings, Ahonen leads convincingly on 1260 points (out of a possible 1300!) while Hoellwarth lies in second on 717 and Jakub Janda of the Czech Republic in third on 672.

Felix Lowe
Eurosport, January 09, 2005, 3:06 PM