Slovenia's Jaka Hvala took his first win in the
World Cup in Klingenthal today. Hvala, newly crowned
Junior World Champion, was already in the lead after
the first round with his 142.5 m jump. And this
time Hvala could defend this position and captured
his first win with 133 m in the final. The 19-year-old
scored a total of 259.5 points.
"It was a very special day for me. After the
trial round I was really angry because my jump was
bad. But my jumps in the competition were great."
The Slovenian team is the "Team of the Hour",
after their win in the team competition in Willingen
it was already the second win for the athletes of
head coach Goran Janus during the Team Tour, and
so they have a good chance to win the FIS Team Tour
for the first time.
"We are not thinking about the prize money
of the Team Tour yet, we are focusing on the remaining
competitions in Oberstdorf. The Championships in
Val di Fiemme will be my first, so it's not about
the results for me. I want to compete there, have
fun and show good jumps. That's my goal. We have
a good team spirit, we get along well and that's
what makes us strong. But we are definitely not
unbeatable", Hvala said about the upcoming
days.
Taku Takeuchi of Japan came in second. After the
winter wasn't so good for the jumpers of Nippon
so far, this was a nice and important success for
the Japanese. With his jumps on 133.5 m and 130.5
m and 254.6 points Taku Takeuchi achieved the best
result of his career today. "I'm very happy,
my jumps were really good today. Competitions in
Austria and Germany are always special for us, we
Japanese enjoy jumping here. I already knew before
the first jump that the conditions will be difficult
and I have to stay extemely focused in order to
be successful. I was able to do that today",
said Takeuchi.
Under difficult conditions in Klingenthal, Gregor
Schlierenzauer once again showed his great skills.
With 253.1 points for his jumps on 136 m and 132
m, he came in third. "It's yet another nice
day for me. I'm satisfied and it's always special
to stand on the podium. It was very difficult today
with the changing conditions, but I had the necessary
luck. Klingenthal is a nice facility and I always
enjoy coming here. My jumps were not perfect, I
still have room for improvement for the World Championships.
We still have some time until the WSC and we'll
see how will have something to celebrate there.
We all know that Slovenia, Norway and Germany are
really strong."
With 137.5 m and 126.5 m Simon Ammann finished fourth
today. The Swiss was happy after his jumps and ready
for the World Championships in Italy. As always
at such major events, nothing will be impossible
for the Swiss.
Bad day for German team
Today's home competition didn't go well for the
team of head coach Werner Schuster: "That's
not what we expected. It didn't go as we wished
and it was disappointing. But still we are optimistic
because what we showed today is not what we are
capable of showing. I'm sure we will see a different
performance of the team in Oberstdorf, and especially
at the World Championships in Italy", Werner
Schuster said about the day in Klingenthal. Michael
Neumayer was the best German as 12th. Severin Freund
was 17th, Andreas Wellinger 28th. Richard Freitag
(32nd), Andreas Wank (38th), Karl Geiger (42nd)
and Martin Schmitt (49th) failed to make the cut
for the final round. With this result Martin Schmitt
now lost his chances to earn a spot on the team
for the WSC.
The Polish team of head coach Lukasz Kruczek showed
a strong performance in the Vogtland-Arena. With
jumps on 135 m and 128.5 m, Piotr Zyla landed on
a career best fifth place. Also his teammate Krzysztof
Mietus was never better than his 11th place today.
Maciej Kot came in 13th. It was not a good day for
Kamil Stoch. He finished ninth, but was later disqualified
because his suit was not compliant to the rules.
It was not a really good day for the Austrian team.
Martin Koch, who was jumping strong in training
and qualification on Tuesday, jumped on 121 m and
was only 36th with 100.3 points. Andreas Kofler
Andreas Kofler (109 m; 75.6 points) and Michael
Hayboeck (108.5 m; 72.2 points) finished only 48th
and 50th.
Also Alexander Stoeckl will not have very positive
memories of the competition in Klingenthal, except
for Anders Jacobsen's fifth place. Three Norwegians
could not qualify for the second round: Tom Hilde
(122.5 m; 101.2 points), Anders Fannemel (118 m;
94.6 points) and Kim Rene Elverum Sorsell (120.5
m; 92 points). Anders Bardal, second in the overall
World Cup, was 21st, Andreas Stjernen 29th.
No points for Nurmsalu
One of the best on Tuesday, Kaarel Nurmsalu, missed
to score his first World Cup points by only four
places. But the Estonian showed a good performance
with 122 m and 102.5 points.
Schlierenzauer clearly in the lead
Gregor Schlierenzauer is still on his way to his
second overall World Cup title. The Austrian leads
with a total of 1260 points, followed by two Norwegians
- Anders Bardal (766 points) and Anders Jacobsen
(687 points). Severin Freund in now fourth with
669 points, close ahead of Poland's Kamil Stoch.