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.

Lillehammer (1) 2005/6

The World Cup bandwagon rolled into Norway for its next stop on the Nordic Opening, but to due to adverse conditions Lillehammer was the venue rather than Trondheim.

And the former Olympic host offered up the third different winner so far in the season. Andreas Widhoelzl jumped to his first World Cup victory in 3 years, edging out surprise packet Henning Stensrud courtesy of his better marks from the judges. For the Norwegian it was the first time on a World Cup podium in his 150th start, on the very hill his career at this level had begun 9 years earlier.

Germany's Michael Uhrmann recorded the longest jump of the day (143.0m) to climb up from 15th after the first round to the bottom step of the podium.

The win propels Widhoelzl up to third in the overall World Cup standings just 4 points behind joint leaders Jakub Janda and Andreas Kuettel.

Full results can be found here.

Overall standings so far are here.