Jan Matura was the sensational winner of the first competition in Sapporo. The 32-year-old Czech achieved his first ever World Cup win ahead of Tom Hilde and Robert Kranjec. So far the 4th place achieved in the winter 2010/2011 in Sapporo was his career best. The 32-year-old of Liberec showed a great performance today with 132 m and 135 m and could celebrate a well-deserved win with a total of 249.5 points.
"A dream came true for me today. I always wanted to win the World Cup, it happened today and I'm really happy. I'm in a good shape and I enjoy jumping on this hill", said the winner.
Norwegian Tom Hilde finished second with impressive jumps of 136 m and 139 m. The third of the 61st 4-Hills-Tournament came in only 0.7 points behind the winner. "It was a cool competition today. I had some luck, but someone always has here in Sapporo. My second jump was really far and I also tried to show a good telemark."
The third place went to Robert Kranjec. The Slovene presented himself in a great shape a week before the ski flying competitions in Vikersund, showed two solid jumps of 137 m and 130.5 m and reached 244.4 points. "My shape is getting better and better and I'm really happy about the third place because I didn't expect this result", said Kranjec, who is already thinking about the ski flying. "Before the 4-Hills-Tournament I had small problems, now I hope that I can be in top shape in Vikersund."
Anders Bardal completed the strong performance of the team of Alexander Stoeckl. The second of the overall World Cup standing landed at 138 m and 130 m and finished fourth with his total score of 242.3 points, followed by Russian Dimitry Vassiliev (126.5 m and 131 m; 235.8 points).
No points for Japanese veteran
The hosts will be satisfied with Saturday’s competition. Daiki Ito, who struggled right after his comeback and won twice in Sapporo last year, showed jumps on 127 and 135.5 m for a total of 235.4 points. He finished sixth and was the best Japanese athlete. In a wake of Ito, also his teammates Noriaki Kasai (11th), Taku Takeuchi (16th), Junshiro Kobayashi (22nd), Kento Sakuyama (27th) and Hiroaki Watanabe (29th) could score World Cup points. 42-year old Japanese, Takanobu Okabe, failed to make the cut for the second round in his 200th World Cup competition. The oldest competitor of the events in Sapporo, who performed well in the training round, landed at 117m and finished 36th with a total of 89.4 points.
Strong Germans
Despite no one of the German team could achieve a podium result, the athletes of Werner Schuster were among the best at the Okurayama hill. As seventh and eighth, Severin Freund (128 m and 130.5 m; 235.1 points) and Michael Neumayer (130 m and 128.5 m; 234.9 points) proved their consistency. Andreas Wank, who showed some improvement since last competitions, gained some good points as 13th. The two veterans Martin Schmitt (21st) and Maximilian Mechler (24th) also reached the final round.
Two competitors of Poland finished in the Top 10. Kamil Stoch was the best Pole with his 127.5 m and 129 m (233.1 points) and the 9th place. Maciej Kot showed a great effort of 138 m in the final round and could move up from the 19th place to 10th. In the wake of the two Polish stars, also Dawid Kubacki (23rd) and Piotr Zyla (26th) finished in the Top 30.
It did not go that well for Austria in Sapporo without its biggest stars Gregor Schlierenzauer and Thomas Morgenstern. With jumps on 124 m and 128 m Wolfgang Loitzl was the best Austrian as 18th. Michael Hayboeck, who showed two consistent jumps of 119.5 and 120 m (207.8 points), was 20th. Andreas Kofler, who celebrated a win at Okurayama in 2011, could not qualify for the final round with a jump of 120 m (92.3 points) and came in 35th.
Points for Frenette
Peter Frenette of the USA was one of the biggest surprises in Saturday’s event. He finished 25th and could score five World Cup points with two consistent jumps on 118.5 m.
Schlierenzauer remains in the lead
Despite his absence in Sapporo, Gregor Schlierenzauer remains the World Cup leader with 840 points. Anders Bardal (705 points) is still second, ahead of German Severin Freund (601 points).
| 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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