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.