SKI JUMPING. Maximilian Mechler won the qualification for Wednesday's competition in Innsbruck under sunshine and temperatures above zero. The German showed a jump on 126.5 m and won with a total of 125.5 points.

Germany's Maximilian Mechler soars during the trial jump of the third stage of the Four Hills ski jumping tournament in Innsbruck, Austria, on Tuesday, Jan. 3, 2012. (AP Photo/Kerstin Joensson)

On his 28th birthday, Mechler proved that he is in a really good shape again. Already during the whole season he showed surprisingly strong and consistent jumps. Behind Mechler, the strong Norwegian Rune Velta finished second with 119.0 points. Austrian David Zauner was third with 117.7 points.

Germany's Maximillian Mechler takes off from the ski jump during the practice for the third event of the 60th four-hills ski jumping tournament in Innsbruck, January 3, 2012. (REUTERS/Kai Pfaffenbach)

Ammann and Kasai raise hopes

Michael Neumyer from Germany, Swiss Simon Ammann, Peter Prevc from Slovenia and Japanese veteran Noriaki Kasai also soared down the hill and can hope for a good result in the competition as well.

Of the pre-qualified athletes especially Kamil Stoch from Poland, Germany's Severin Freund and 4-Hills leader Gregor Schlierenzauer showed the longest jumps. Schlierenzauer seemed to be calm and relaxed and not impressed by all the hype around him and the possible Grand Slam in his home country.

Bardal fights for the stage victory

Also Anders Bardal, who has nothing to lose now, showed that he is one of the contestants for the victory. Thomas Morgenstern and Richard Freitag still have some room for improvement. Andreas Kofler did not take part in the qualification. He had a great jump in training and that was obviously enough for him.

A reflection of the Alps mountain "Nordkette" is seen in the ski googles of Anders Bardal of Norway during the training round of the FIS Ski Jumping World Cup event at the 60th Four Hills ski jumping tournament at Bergisel on January 3, 2012 in Innsbruck, Austria. (Photo by Alexander Hassenstein/Bongarts/Getty Images)

After some bad qualifications recently, Andrea Morassi could qualify for a competition again. Also Canadian Mackenzie Boyd-Clowes presented himself in a good shape again and qualified ahead of Norwegian Kenneth Gangnes, who replaces Tom Hilde on the team. In the K.O. round he will jump against Bjoern Einar Romoeren.

For the Polish team it didn't got that well on Tuesday. Piotr Zyla and Alexander Zniszczol failed to make the cut. Unfortunately all three French jumpers could not qualify for the competition for the third time in a row. Besides the "Equipe Tricolore" surprisingly also German Andreas Wank and Jure Sinkovec from Slovenia, who was very good in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, could not qualify. From the Austrian national group Stefan Kraft, Mario Innauer and Manuel Poppinger will not be able to compete on Wednesday. For the Swiss the competition will be a one-man-show for Simon Ammann, Marco Grigoli could not make the cut.

In this photo taken with a fisheye lens Taku Takeuchi of Japan prepares his trial jump during the qualification at the third stage of the Four Hills ski jumping tournament in Innsbruck, Austria, Tuesday, Jan. 3, 2012. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader)

The showdown on the famous "Bergisel" in Innsbruck will start on Wednesday at 1:45 pm CET. You can follow it with the live-ticker on FISskijumping.com.

FISskijumping.com
03.01.2012 15:06