Schlierenzauer wins high-class ski flying event
Gregor Schlierenzauer celebrated his 46th win in the World Cup on the huge hill in Vikersund today and equalled the record of Finland's Matti Nykaenen. Schlierenzauer took this record win with 216.5 m and 240 m and finished ahead of Simon Ammann and Robert Kranjec.
"It's a great feeling to win for the 46th time and go down in ski jumping history. I'm very proud and I want to thank everyone who supported me and worked with me. My second jump was great today and the feeling in the air was awesome. I hope that I can show two good jumps again tomorrow and then we'll see what happens. Now I enjoy today's result", Schlierenzauer said after his 46th win.
The Austrian scored a total of 418.7 points on the Vikersundbakken. That was enough to win with a tiny margin ahead of Swiss Simon Ammann (418.2 points). With his jumps on 215 m and 229.5 m Ammann was only 0.5 points behind Schlierenzauer and closely missed his first win this season. "The perfect jump didn't happen yet, but for me it's important to be back on the podium. I had some ups and downs this season and now I try to get more confidence for the World Championships, that's my last remaining highlight this winter", Ammann said after today's competition.
After yesterday's training didn't go that well for Kranjec, the reigning ski flying World Champion, he could live up to his name as a great ski flyer right on time for the competition with 212 m and 232.5 m. "It was great for me today and I'm very satisfied. The first round was difficult because the speed was very low, but the second round was nice. The feeling was a bit different than last year because we had a bit more speed due to the tighter suits. We'll see if I can challenge Gregor tomorrow", said Kranjec.
Best result and longest jump of the career for Stjernen
To the joy of the 15 000 fans local hero Andreas Stjernen came in fourth on the Vikersundbakken. With 215 m in the first round and a personal best of 232.5 m in the final Stjernen was the best of the Norwegians today. Anders Jacobsen as seventh and Anders Bardal as 12th also achieved top results for the team of Alex Stoeckl.
The fifth place went to Poland's Kamil Stoch. "I'm satisfied with my jumps, even if the second one was a bit late at the take-off and so I lost important meters", explained Stoch, who equalled the Polish record held by Piotr Zyla with 232.5 m in the second round. Zyla was sixth today. Maciej Kot (16th) and Krzysztof Mietus (25th) also qualified for the second round.
Best German was Michael Neumayer. The 34-year-old showed jumps on 196.5 m and 225 m. "It was fun. Especially my second jump was very good. I'm really satisfied today", told Neumayer. Behind Neumayer, Severin Freund was tenth, Richard Freitag 18th, Maximilian Mechler 21st and Andreas wank 28th. Martin Schmitt (35th) and Marinus Kraus (36th) failed to make the cut for the final round.