Stoch wins in Kuopio - Schlierenzauer takes overall title
Kamil Stoch could handle the very difficult weather conditions at Puijo-hill the best and clearly celebrated his first win in the World Cup this season. Daiki Ito of Japan came in second and German Severin Freund was third.
Kamil Stoch laid the foundation for the win already with his impressive first jump on 135 m. The World Champion of Poland landed only 0.5 short of the the hill record held by Masahiko Harada. In the final round he landed at 129 m and took his first in this World Cup season with a total of 268.1 points.
"I'm very happy about this win, it was worth to wait and work hard all season. My jumps were very good and it was fun. In my first jump I thought that I might land on the knoll, because right after the take off I got a draft. Fortunately the second part the flight was very good and then I knew it will go far", said the winner.
The second place went to Daiki Ito, who scored 257.2 points. The Japanese posted the longest jump of the final round on 132 m and could move up from the sixth place. The 27-year-old of the “Air Nippon” seems to back in top shape and should be reckoned with in Trondheim. "I wanted to win, but Kamil was too strong. My shape here was not so good, because I don't like Finnish food. It's not good when you have to diet. Next year I would like to eat some good food here, maybe even sushi."
Severin Freund of Germany repeated his result from Lahti and came in third with his 255.2 points. Two consistent jumps on 129.5 m and 130 m were shown by the German. "I was at the podium in every competition in Finland this year and unlike Daiki, I like finnish food. The weather was difficult today, it was hard to see where you land and I had problems with it."
Improvement of the Austrians
The athletes of head coach Alexander Pointner, improved their performance compared to Lahti. Two athletes of Austria achieved Top 10 results. With his total of 253.5 points and consistent jumps on 128.5 m and 128 m Gregor Schlierenzauer came in fifth and was followed by his teammate Stefan Kraft. The eleventh place went to Wolfgang Loitzl, who was only 20th after the first round. Manuel Fettner and Andreas Kofler will not leave Kuopio with good memories. Fettner, who showed a jump on 120.5 m that earned him 111.7 points, missed the second round by only 1.1 points and Kofler was 41st.
Apart from Severin Freund, also Michael Neumayer achieved a Top 10 result for Germany. His total of 247 points and two strong jumps on 130 m and 128.5 m were good enough for the seventh place. Three other athletes of Germany could also take part in the final. Andreas Wank came in 16th, Karl Geiger was 21st and Richard Freitag 28th.
Piotr Zyla again moved up in the final, like he did on Sunday in Lahti. The Pole scored a total of 239.9 points with his jumps on 123 m and 129 m and came in 15th. Dawid Kubacki was the third of Poland, who gained World Cup points with his 24th place. Maciej Kot, who did well in Lahti and finished sixth at the Salpausselka-hill, could not make the cut for the second round after he landed at 107 m (87.1 points). Krzysztof Mietus (38th) and Stefan Hula (45th) shared his fate.
Room for improvement for the Norwegians
The Norwegian jumpers did not do that well in Kuopio, despite they were close to the best after the first round. Anders Bardal (129 m and 127.5 m; 253.7 points) was the best of the team as fourth. With his 125 m in the second round Tom Hilde could not defend his fourth place and came in ninth. Surprisingly, Anders Jacobsen could not reach the final round. Under difficult weather conditions the Norwegian landed at 118.5 m and came in 35th with his 107.6 points. A disappointing performance of the 28-year-old, who is still in the game for the World Cup overall podium, in spite of his setback in Kuopio. Definitely a bit more will be expected of the Norwegians on Friday and Sunday in Trondheim and Oslo.
Matura again in the Top 10
With his good second jump on 128.5 m Jan Matura moved up from the 17th place to the Top 10. Despite the strong performance of the 33-year-old athlete, it was not a good day for the Czech. Lukas Hlava and Roman Koudelka could not make it to the final round.
Vincent Descombes Sevoie of France was the big surprise on Tuesday. He scored 240.8 points and came in 14th. The Finnish jumpers did not perform well in front of their home crowd. None of them could qualify for the second round of Tuesday’s event. Ville Larinto, who won the last World Cup event held in Kuopio in the winter 2010/2011, was 49th.
World Cup overall title for Schlierenzauer
With his fifth place Gregor Schlierenzauer won the overall World Cup title for the second time. Anders Bardal (912 points) is still second. Severin Freund (819 points) moved up to third, Anders Jacobsen (792 points) is now fourth.