Sunday 5 April 2009

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.

Wednesday 1 April 2009

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.