Wednesday 25 March 2009

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.

Wednesday 11 March 2009

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.