Tight fights and an emotional start of the Four-Hills-Tournament in Oberstdorf made ski-jumping hear

Tight fights and an emotional start of the Four-Hills-Tournament in Oberstdorf made ski-jumping hearts beat faster!

The Four-Hills-Tournament is always something special. But this year it seems that it is even more popular, even more tensing and cram-full of emotions.

For some it’s tears, for others it’s laughing. As ever we saw many surprises – for example Rune Velta’s and Gregor Deschwanden’s amazing performances. Deschwanden had a jump of 130m in the first round and beat his opponent Piotr Zyla, who regained strength in Engelberg, the direct way. Maybe he has been even more perplexed than we have been but it’s a very happy result for the young Swiss man.

He couldn’t keep up this level in the final round but a 25th place as his first result in his first Tournament is something he can be proud of! Rune Velta on the other hand gave his rival Tom Hilde a hard time with 132.5m. But the latter countered with incredible 135.5m, making Velta the second best lucky loser. As you know, some lucky losers show way longer jumps than some duel-winners. One of those was Andreas Wellinger, who headed the lucky loser list and landed on rank nine with 131m. Having Manuel Fettner as a direct competition partner was definitely a tight thing for the German newcomer. Although some conceded him better chances, rival Fettner pushed him out of the duel with 136.5m (eighth).

The biggest excitement went to Ilia Rosliakov (127.5m), who beat 2011-Tournament winner Thomas Morgenstern (119.5m) in their duel. Congrats, Ilia, to this amazing result! The decision to let him down at these conditions took all chances from Morgenstern to play a role in the Tournament at all.

Let’s have a look at the German-German duel Wank against Schmitt:Although the world is full of hope and crosses fingers for the lovely Milka-man, they didn’t show much confidence in him winning directly against Wank, who has been best in summer. Wank landed 127m and the wind became stronger. But then came Schmitt and answered with 126m- and because of the bad conditions he got plus points and won the duel! Unfortunately, Wank also fell out of the lucky loser list. Same happened to Robert Kranjec (125.5m), who seems to be on a good way back despite of losing against Andreas Kofler (128m)- which happened already for the second time in a Four-Hills-Tournament.

It was sad to see that 126.5m of Sebastian Colloredo haven't been enough to win the fight against Stefan Hula (128.5m), who appears in the WC for the first time this season but is in a good form.

Kot lost against Maximilian Mechler. This was the second out for Poland and the chance for Mechler to not be out of the team, when Schuster has to reduce the number of athletes for the Austrian part of the Tournament. Luckily, Klemens Muranka has been able to make Poland proud with his win against Hayböck. Good for the youngster to make it into the final round in his first Tournament-race.

Maybe the hardest pair to predict have been Jaka Hvala and Kamil Stoch. Some weeks ago, no one would have negated that Hvala would make it- but since Engelberg, Stoch is back as strong as ever. So it came that the young Slovenian lost with 127m against 132.5m. He entered the final round as 22nd due to the lucky loser list. Also Danny Queck, who had to fight against the giant Anders Bardal, jumped into the second round via the lucky loser-rule. Bardal profited from the updraft as the German showed in the trial round that he is as good as last season’s best of the world.

Taku Takeucki, who lost some of his form in the beginning of the season, amazed with 134m. Michael Neumayer, who maybe thought he would have an easier time, managed to beat him with 136.5m. Of course, Takeuchi had the best chances on the lucky loser list and ended this competition on rank 17.

We all know that Simon Ammann, one of the best in this sport after all those years, still didn’t have the chance to win the Four-Hills-Tournament. This year seems to be the perfect time for him. He jumped 133.5m and landed on the third place after the first round. Unfortunately also his best in the final round (139m!) wasn’t enough to get him on the podium (6th). He looked really disappointed but a glimpse at the Tournament-ranking shows, that he’s 28.3points away from the best. This is not impossible until the last jump is done.

But back to the duels: Severin Freund came and fly- 138.5m for the German high-flyer brought him the third place in the end! Dimitry Vassiliev followed with an equal jump of 137.5m. Even wind from behind couldn’t stop back-comer Anders Jacobsen from beating them with 138m! Also Schlierenzauer had to take the place behind the Norwegian.

The second round was even more exciting. The leadership changed fast from Queck to Hvala. Freitag couldn’t convince today –but Martin Schmitt did. His second try of 130.5m didn’t bring him the diverting leadership but a good result for his mental strength. The leadership went to Velta for 134.5m. Then came Neumayer- he’s unbeatable now. A lower gate brought him farther still then the rest could come- 134.5m for him and the first place until Kofler came. The constant debacle about Neumayer’s landing points gave Andreas Kofler the chance to take the lead from him. But this changed fast from Fettner to Dimitry Vassiliev. The latter couldn’t stand his 138.5m- jump properly and put his hand in the snow. Unbelievably his jump was so terrific that he became leader though. Not even Simon Ammann could change this although he managed 139m. His performance was just amazing. There was nothing to add-except a few points, if you ask me.

(Michael Neumayer) SkiJumpingItaly 2012 - (c) Kathrin Müller

Meanwhile, Kofler got disqualified because of his suit. This is also the out for him regarding the overall-ranking of the Tournament.

Was it the pressure or the conditions? Kamil Stoch fell back and finished the race on place 13. Tom Hilde on the other hand even improved his awesome form and landed a 138.5m- try. No one ever thinks of last year, when he broke his back on the very same day. No, this year’s performance deleted this all and made him proud fifth- although also this athlete would have deserved a place on the podium.

As we speak of it: The best jumpers still need to be talked about: Severin Freund took the lead with 135.5m from a lower gate (290.8points) and was only beaten by Gregor Schlierenzauer (138.5m; 297.0points) and the man of the day: Anders Jacobsen (139m; 308.6points).

Will the Norwegian high-flyer be able to win the Four-Hills-Tournament again (as he did 2006/07)? Or will last year’s winner Schlierenzauer get the trophy again? Or could it be the next German-win after Sven Hannawald’s hattrick a decade ago? Also Vassiliev, who has been 5th in the overall twice, has good chances to improve his personal best.

Stay tuned, when the Four-Hills-Tournament continues in Garmisch-Partenkirchen!

• By Peggy Kierstan (@pikayartist)