Lindsey Van: "I'm picking Jacobsen for the win!"

At the beginning of the Four-Hills-Tournament our expert became World-Champion from Liberec Lindsey Van (USA). Here's her statement about yesterday's qualification in Garmisch-Partenkirchen.

"It was great to see Jacobsen set a hill record in training, and win the qualification. Those jumps looked very similar to the jumps he had when he won the 4 hills in 06/07. The 4 Hills tournament is unique because all the hills are drastically different, and that is what makes it so hard. The KO qualification adds a little more drama to the 4 hills. I like what Ammann is doing. He is taking a chance by not taking his qualification jump, and getting a very strong opponent in the first round. At this point he has nothing to lose in the overall tournee, he is taking a risk, but risks have to be taken if you want to win. Watch out for Ammann today, I think he will be coming in hot. Schlierenzauer didn't take any training jumps or the qualification jump, so it will be interesting to see how his plan works out today. Im excited to see the KO round between Ammann and Kasai. They are two of my favorites. I saw good jumps from Diethart, the winner of last years tournee and it looks like he is getting in shape. Once again I think some of the younger less experience athletes will shine today. Leyhe, Sjoeen, Tande, Dezman, Pungertar all had good qualification jumps. Im changing my podium for today after seeing the training and qualification. Im picking Jacobsen for the win, Prevc 2nd, and Ammann 3rd. I think Kasai, Hoyboeck, Kraft, Schlierenzauer, Damjan and Freitag will put up a good fight. It's good to see some of the younger Italians getting some experience. Paolo is a great coach and I think he will do a great job brining them up through the World Cup."

(Women's Ski Jumping USA)