Innsbruck

A first round jump of 134.5 metres was enough for Jakub Janda to strengthen his Four Hills lead and regain top spot in the World Cup. It was not enough though to take the spoils in Innsbruck as Roar Ljoekelsoey of Norway took advantage of a fairly mediocre second effort from the Czech star, to land his 11th career victory.

(Norway's Roar Ljoekelsoey, another different winner on this year's World Cup tour)

The experienced Norwegian was handily placed in 8th after the first round with the men of the Four Hills so far, Janda and Uhrmann, in the lead. The first jump did produce shocks at both ends of the field though. Just behind Janda and Uhrmann was Italian, Sebastian Colloredo with a cracking effort of 129.5 metres. At the other end of the standings was the World Cup leader before this event, Janne Ahonen. The Finn was languishing down in 22nd place having only managed to creep over the K-Point at 120 metres.

All that changed in the second round as Ahonen rose back up to 8th, and Colloredo fell away to 24th, recording the worst second jump of the competition. It was not enough for the Finn though, and despite his relatively poor second effort Janda had done enough to snatch back top spot overall.

Full results can be found here.

Overall World Cup standings can be found here.

And, updated Four Hills standings are here.

Garmisch-Partenkirchen

After the disappointment of Oberstdorf, the German fans went home from the second Four Hills event in Garmisch with smiling faces and hoarse throats.

The reason for their exuberance? A stunning second round leap of 137.5 metres from Michael Uhrmann which catapulted him from 11th after the first round to the top of the podium. The huge leap was 10 metres better than anyone else managed in the round and relegated first round leader Janne Ahonen down to second.

(Home favourite Michael Uhrmann, winner at Garmisch)

The Finn had some concolation with Andreas Widhoelzl himself preventing Jakub Janda getting on the podium, meaning the two rivals swapped places at the top of the World Cup ranking again. Janda, meanwhile still maintains his Four Hills lead after his dominance in Oberstdorf.

The big loser of the day was Andreas Kuettel. The Swiss star could only muster 10th place, losing ground on Ahonen and Janda in the overall standings.

The part now moves on to Austria, with the third event of the Four Hills at another Olympic venue, Innsbruck.

Full results of this event are here.

Overall World Cup standings are here.

And, the standings for the Four Hills Tournament are here.

Oberstdorf

Jakub Janda reclaimed top spot in the World Cup, racking up his third win of the campaign as the Four Hills tournament got under way in Oberstdorf. The Czech star was only a half metre ahead of both his main rivals, Janne Ahonen and Andreas Kuettel, after the first round, but neither man could make it past the K-point in a second round blighted by worsening conditions. All that meant that once the big crowd saw Janda creep over the K-point himself, victory was assured.

(Jakub Janda, three-time winner so far this season)

Although Andreas Widhoelzl got the best jump in the final round, defying the conditions to jump over 3 metres further than anyone else, it ws not enough to snatch a place on the podium from Ahonen or Kuettel.

For the home fans it was a meeting to forget with Michael Uhrmann, the best placed German, languishing down in 16th place.

Janda now heads for Garmish-Partenkirchen with a 19 point cushion over Ahonen, who in turn is only 2 points ahead of Kuettel.

Full results can be found here.

Latest WC standings are here.

Engelberg

The first of two sheduled events at Engleberg was cancelled, but the second was completed and it finally gave Janne Ahonen his first win of the season.

Mediocre first round jumps from Andreas Kuettel and Jakub Janda enabled Ahonen to take advantage and overtake Janda by one point in the overall world cup standings, whilst Kuettel took over top spot.

Roar Ljoekelsoey headed the field after the first round a full 3.5 metres ahead of Ahonen in second. However, the seond round was less kind to him with a paltry 121.0 metres sinking him to 4th place.

Overhauling Ljoekelsoey to take places on the podium were Kuettel and Andreas Kofler, the Swiss recovering from 12th to take third place. Meanwhile Kofler's second place gave him his second podium finish of the season, after his win in Harrachov, but only served to underline the inconsistency preventing him from improving on his current WC position of 6th.

(Janne Ahonen of Finland, winner in Engelberg)

The season hots up with the start of the Four Hills tournament in Oberstdorf next on the agenda.


Full results from Engelberg can be found here.


Latest World Cup standings can be found here.

Harrachov (2)

Jakub Janda became the first repeat winner of the year and took the lead in the World Cup with a commanding second round jump in the second event of the weekend at Harrachov. The Czech jumper soared to 140.5m to beat his nearest World Cup rival, Andreas Kuettel, by nearly four metres.

Kuettel came in second, improving from 5th after the first jump with 134.5m the second time around.

First round leader Janne Happonen couldn't maintain his form and only recorded a lacklustre 126.5m with his second jump to plunge down to 7th.

The podium was completed by Bjorn Einar Romoeren of Norway who edged his battle with Janne Ahonen, thanks mainly to the Finn's relatively poor scores from the judges in the first round. Ahonen, though kept hold of third in the overall standings.

Next stop on the tour is Engelberg in Switzerland, the last tune-up before the Four Hills starts.

(winner and World Cup leader Jakub Janda)

Full results can be found here.

Updated World Cup standings are here.

Harrachov (1) 2005/6

Having taken the lead after a strange first round, Andreas Kofler of Austria triumphed in the latest round of the ski-jumping World Cup in the Czech Republic. It was the 21 year-old policeman's first ever World Cup victory and propelled him into the top 10 in the World Cup and was set up by a massive jump of 152.5 metres in the first round, over 10 metres further than anyone else.

He was aided and abeted by some poor jumps in the first round by most of the big guns. World Cup leader, Andreas Kuttel could manage only 10th having just watched his nearest challenger jump into 9th. The biggest loser though was the Lillehammer winner Thomas Morgenstern who could only manage a woeful 40th place and failed to qualify for a second effort.

Kuettel and Janda did manage to improve the second time up and rose up to 5th and 4th respectively and limited the gains of Finn, Janne Ahonen whose consistency saw him take the bottom step on the podium. Second place was claimed by Michael Uhrmann, who recorded his best result of the season in doing so.

(winner Andreas Kofler)

Full results can be found here.

Updated World Cup standings are here.

Lillehammer (2) 2005/6

The last event of the Nordic Opening threw up yet another different winner as Thomas Morgenstern of Austria dominated with the best score in both rounds to record a convincing win by over eight points. It was the second individual World Cup win for the 19 yeard old from Spittal.

The best jump of the day came from Finnish superstart Janne Ahonen. After two disappointing events he reclaimed a spot in the top 5 overall and a place on the podium on the day with a second round jump of 135.0m pulling him up from third after the first round.

Consistency was the key for Andreas Kuettel' s place on the bottom step of the podium. His jumps of 124.0m and 130.5m were enough for him to take advantage of others inconsistency as he claimed the overall World Cup lead despite not registering in the top 3 for either jump.

The man tied for the overall going into the event, Jakub Janda, was forced into damage limitation mode as his first round effort fell well short of the K-point and left him languishing in 21st before his second round jump hauled hi back up to 8th.

Full results can be found here.

The latest World Cup standings are here.

The next stop on the World Cup is Harrachov in the Czech Republic.