If anyone can catch up with him, then it's Gregor Schlierenzauer who is attributed the same skills as the highflyer from Finland, who celebrated his successes between 1981 and 1991.

"Schlierenzauer is an artist"

Even the world's best look up to Schlierenzauer, who lifted ski jumping on a new level. "Schlierenzauer is an artist", German head coach Werner Schuster said recently. "He takes a competition break, doesn't have to train and comes back fresh and even stronger."

Schlierenzauer in the FISskijumping-'Hall of Fame' »

So Schlierenzauer achieved his 40th World Cup win in Predazzo. And he is only 22 years old. Does this mean he is even better than Nykaenen? Is Schlierenzauer the best ski jumper ever?

Matti Nykaenen's biggest successes »

This statement is difficult to verify, but a few lines help to get a better image. At first it has to be said that when Nykaenen was jumper a World Cup season was a lot shorter than today. Schlierenzauer has more possibilities to win than Nykaenen had.

Nykaenen with 50 % podium results 

So let's take the number of World Cup competition the participated in: For Nykaenen these are 130, he was on the podium 76 times. So he was on the podium in more than 50 % of the competitions. Schlierenzauer took part in 128 events, won 40 and was on the podium 65 times. So Nykaenen's quota is a bit higher than Schlierenzauer's. But still the Austrian is the only one who can keep up with the great Finn in these statistics.

Malysz and Ahonen won close to every tenth competition

Let's take a look at Adam Malysz, he needed 349 competitions for his 39 wins, Janne Ahonen participated 371 times and won 36. And Martin Schmitt needed 280 events to win 28 times. The only one who can keep up here with Nykaenen and Schlierenzauer is Jens Weissflog who competed in the World Cup only 177 times and won 33 competitions. Weissflug achieved 73 podium results. If Martin Schmitt would have retired after his last win on March 1st, 2002 he would have a similar quota.

Jens Weissflog in the 'Hall of Fame' »

It's obvious that Nykaenen and Schlierenzauer both left their mark on their era. That was also done by Bjoern Wirkola, who won ten competitions at the 4-Hills-Tournament. He holds this record together with Jens Weissflog. But back then there was no World Cup and so a comparison is not really possible. At least Wirkola, who was the first and only jumper so far who could win the 4-Hills-Tournament three times in a row from 1967 to 1969, was included in the everyday language in Norway. If something is like "ski jumping before Wirkola", this means that two things can't be compared. Just because ski jumping after Wirkola was not the same anymore. A huge honor for the Norwegian who was born in 1943.

Bjoern Wirkola in the 'Hall of Fame' »

And Wirkola achieved another special thing. After the end of his career in ski jumping he played soccer and became Norwegian champion with his club Rosenborg Trondheim.

Nykaenen and Schlierenzauer with similar quota

At the bottom line it's difficult to say whether Nykaenen or Schlierenzauer is better. But the numbers prove that only Schlierenzauer is about as successful as the famous Finn was. Of course Schlierenzauer still has to win a lot if he wants to equal Nykaenen's records. Five time Olympic Gold, this will be hard to to, even for a highflyer like Schlierenzauer. At the end of the day, a comparison Nykaenen vs. Schlierenzauer is a little bit like "ski jumping before Wirkola".

Tags:  skijumping| matti nykänen | gregor schlierenzauer

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