Andreas Stjernen won the FIS Grand Prix in Courchevel.
His teammate Phillip Sjoeen came in second and secured
the double victory for Norway.
Tom Hilde completed the outstanding team result
for the Norwegians in fourth. Stjernen, third in
the qualification earlier today, showed the longest
jump of the day with 132.5 m in the first round
and jumped on 126 m in the final. With a total of
375.5 points he came in 1.2 points ahead of Phillip
Sjoeen, who jumped on 130.5 m twice.
Premiere on the podium
For both Norwegians this was the first podium result
in a Grand Prix competition. Winner Andreas Stjernen
said afterwards: "It was my first win on this
level. My jumps are getting better and better. I
will not go to Japan, I'll train at home instead
and take part in national competitions." Second-placed
Phillip Sjoeen was also happy about his performance:
"Of course I'm very satisfied. Unfortunately
I had many falls in the previous competitions but
today it was fantastic. I will also go to Japan."
The third place went to the winner of the qualification,
Kamil Stoch. The overall World Cup winner and Olympic
Champion posted jumps on 121.5 m and 126.5 m for
371.2 points. With this performance he prevented
a triple win for Norway and finished 0.5 points
ahead of Tom Hilde.
"I'm very satisfied with today's result because
two days ago I didn't know if I would be able to
compete today due to a muscle injury. Of course
it was an advantage that I won the qualification,
so I had a bit of a bonus", he told. Veteran
Tom Hilde jumped on 131 m and 127.5 m.
Hayboeck best Austrian
In absence of Gregor Schlierenzauer, who caught
a cold and had to return home early from Courchevel,
Michael Hayboeck was the best Austrian in fifth.
With jumps on 131.5 m and 123 m he scored 363.7
points, 1.7 points more than the best German Andreas
Wellinger. Hayboeck's teammate Stefan Kraft was
seventh with 359.3 points, Slovenia's top jumper
Peter Prevc followed in eighth, 1.5 points behind.
Czech Roman Koudelka (355.8 points) in ninth and
Daniel-Andre Tande (351.6 points) of Norway completed
the Top 10. Behind Robert Kranjec and Daniel Wenig,
Junshiro Kobayashi was once again the best of the
Japanese, with Anders Fannemel in 15th a fifth Norwegian
achieved a top result.
First competition this summer for Neumayer
German veteran Michael Neumayer came in 17th in
his first Grand Prix competition this summer and
will also be on the German team for Hakuba (JPN)
next week. Simon Ammann finished 19th, Sami Niemi
was the best Finn in 20th, his teammate Anssi Koivuranta
was 22nd.
In the overall ranking of the Grand Prix, today's
winner Andreas Stjernen and Peter Prevc now share
the lead with 168 points. Piotr Zyla, who failed
to qualify for the final in Courchevel, is third
with 164 points.
