Anders Jacobsen of Norway was the big surprise at the start of the 61st 4-Hills-Tournament. Jacobsen, overall winner of the Tournament in the winter 2006/07, dominated the first day in Oberstdorf. With the longest jump in both training rounds and the victory in the qualification (133.5 m; 143.2 points) he is now among the top favorites for winning Sunday's competition. "I'm really very satisfied with my jumps and my result", said the winner.
Second in today's qualification was Dimitry Vassiliev of Russia (130 m; 138.2 points), who was also already strong in the training. Tom Hilde came in third after a jump on 134.5 m (136.5 points).
So it seems that Anders Jacobsen and Austrian Gregor Schlierenzauer will be the top contestants for the win in the competition.
Schlierenzauer was the best of the pre-qualified athletes and, just like Jacobsen, he did well in all three rounds. With his jump on 131.5 m (149.6 points) the last year's winner reached the highest total score in today's qualification round. Behind Schlierenzauer, Wolfgang Loitzl, Richard Freitag, Severin Freund and Swiss Simon Ammann showed the best jumps of the pre-qualified athletes. All have a good chance to achieve a top result on Sunday.
Statements after the qualification »
The top favorites should have no problems advancing to the final round in their K.O: duels tomorrow. Schlierenzauer will jump against Anton Kalinitschenko, will compete against Korean Heung-Chul Choi who could surprisingly qualify for the competition.
German newcomer Andreas Wellinger could not do that well today. With a jump on 118 m he came in 29th. That was not a problem, because Wellinger is also one of the already pre-qualified jumpers. "I'm very happy that I can jump here and I hope that my performance will be better tomorrow", the youngster said after his first appearance at the 4-Hills-Tournament.
The Polish jumpers showed a strong team performance. Piotr Zyla (10th), Dawid Kubacki (15th), Kamil Stoch (16th), Stefan Hula (18th), Maciej Kot (27th), Klemens Muranka (37th) and Krzysztof Mietus qualified for the competition. The team of Lukasz Kruczek really improved since the start of the season.
Saturday was not a good day for the Finnish team. Ville Larinto, Olli Muotka and Sami Niemi were not able to qualify to the competition. Thanks to a 124 m jump of Lauri Asikainen Finland will have one representative in the opening event of the 4-Hills-Tournament.
After their promising performance in the second Continental Cup competition in Engelberg both American jumpers, Peter Frenette (119.5 m) and Anders Johnson (115 m), failed to make the cut today.
Startlist for the competition (K.O. duels)
| 01 | Wasek, P. |  |
329 | 0 |
| 02 | Kraft, S. | |
305 | 0 |
| 03 | Lindvik, M. | |
300 | 2 |
| 04 | Insam, A. | |
299 | 1 |
| 05 | Hoerl, J. | |
249 | 1 |
| Sluttresultat » | ||||
| 01 | Malsiner, L. | |
254 | 0 |
| 02 | Sieff, A. | |
214 | 0 |
| 03 | Takanashi, S. | |
209 | 1 |
| Sluttresultat » | ||||
| 01 | Japan | |
872 | 0 |
| 02 | Italia | |
628 | 0 |
| 03 | Slovenia | |
605 | 0 |
| Sluttresultat » | ||||
| 01 | Aigner, C. | |
543 | 0 |
| 02 | Fettner, M. | |
405 | 2 |
| 03 | Villumstadt, F. | |
377 | 0 |
| Sluttresultat » | ||||
| 01 | Schmid, K. | |
300 | 0 |
| 02 | Arnet, S. | |
289 | 0 |
| 03 | Wadsak, M. | |
277 | 0 |
| Sluttresultat » | ||||
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