Gregor Schlierenzauer of Austria won the last World Cup competition before the Christmas break at the start of the 61st 4-Hills-Tournament in Engelberg, Switzerland. On Sunday Schlierenzauer captured the win with jumps on 136 m and 131 m (273.3 points), Saturday's winner and teammate Andreas Kofler (137.5 m and 126 m; 270.3 points) and Andreas Wellinger of Germany shared the second place.
"It was a fantastic weekend, being on the podium twice at one weekend is great. The level of the competition was extremely high again and today I was the lucky one. The yellow bib is an extra boost for me and it gives me the confidence that I'm on the right track", the winner said after the competition.
With his 43rd win in a World Cup competition Schlierenzauer got another step closer to the historic World Cup record held by Finland's Matti Nykaenen (46 victories). With today's success Schlierenzauer also captured the leader's bib of the World Cup. In the overall ranking he now leads with 448 points ahead of Severin Freund (430 points) and Andreas Kofler (396 points).
Andreas Kofler, the winner of Saturday's competition, was in the lead after the first round and came in second: "I'm totally satisfied with scoring 180 points on one weekend. And of course it's important that my jumps are good and that's the case right now. The conditions were difficult today and for me it's a good sign that I can also be among the best under these conditions. I think that every athlete is now looking forward to the 4-Hills-Tournament", said Kofler.
Denis Kornilov
This time Wellinger came from behind
Just like the day before, the spectators saw an exciting and close competition. And similar to the day before one athlete was able to move up many place with a great second jump. Today it was Germany's Andreas Wellinger, who moved up from eleventh to second. At the end Wellinger finished on a shared second place with Kofler and could hardly believe what just happened.
Gregor Schlierenzauer
"It's my first season in the World Cup and it's unbelievable that I can be on the podium for the second time already. The second jump today was by far the best I ever had here in Engelberg. I had good conditions in the second round and I could use them. I deal with the current situation calmly and I'm looking forward to the 4-Hills-Tournament. I have nothing to lose", told Wellinger.For Wellinger this was the second podium result of his career after he was already third in Sochi. With this second place he moved up to a remarkable fourth place in the overall World Cup ranking.
Austrians and Germans dominate
A total of seven athletes of Austria and Germany finished in the Top 10. Wolfgang Loitzl (4th), Michael Neumayer (5th), Severin Freund (6th), Richard Freitag (8th) showed the exceptional position of these two teams. Slovene Peter Prevc was the best of the athlete who is not from Austria or Germany as sixth. Norwegian Tom Hilde and Russian Denis Kornilov came in ninth and tenth and brought some international flair to the Top 10.
Video-Interview with Gregor Schlierenzauer and Alex Pointner (in German) »
The Polish team could again show a convincing performance, even if they could not achieve a top result today. Kot, Stoch and Kubacki finished 13th, 14th and 17th and proved the positive trend of the team. Also the Slovenian team was strong today. Besides Prevc, Jaka Hvala as 12th and Jurij Tepes as 19th achieved good results. There was also a ray of hope for the Finnish team. Lauri Asikainen was the only Finn in the final round, but he came in on a strong 16th place. An important result for the struggeling Finnish team.
The conclusion of Engelberg is that - probably also because of the new rules concerning the equipment - the field in incredibly tight and it can be expected that the 61st 4-Hills-Tournament will be an event on the highest level. The 4-Hills-Tournament starts with the qualification in Oberstdorf on December 29. We will be there!
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