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 That was the WC '08 |
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Thursday, Feb. 21th
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Quotations from the Press Conference:
Walter Hofer:
“The preparations for the World Championships have proceeded excellently. We use a cooling system for the inrun track and also the landing area is prepared very well so that we provide equal conditions to everybody. I think that we will see distances around 200 metres in the competition.“
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Toni Innauer (Nordic Director for Ski Jumping and Nordic Combined in Austria)
comments on the team:
“The expectations towards us are very high. But our competitors are very strong as well. Of course we want to fight for medals. That´s our aim. Martin Koch was very strong today and also Thomas Morgenstern almost scratched the 200 metres with his jump and so he is a favourite for tomorrow as well.“
comments on Gregor Schlierenzauer:
“Gregor can do better. He is adaptive and will adapt to the hill more and more within the next days so that he will be able to perform even better tomorrow.“
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Michael Neumayer:
„First of all I want to thank the organisers for the excellent preparation of the hill. If the weather gets a bit better now it will surely be a great competition tomorrow.“
„Probably we won´t be able to win an individual medal but if somebody of the big teams isn´t in such a good shape on Sunday, we could perhaps reach for a medal.“
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Roar Ljoekelsoey:
“I like this hill, I have had some difficulties in the course of the season but today it was OK. I feel that I can fly ten metres longer in the forthcoming days.“
“I think after the competition on Saturday the decision will be made who will start for the team on Sunday. I feel that we have a strong team, as well as our competitors from Austria and Finland.“
“At least many things make us strong this year, we have trained very hard and we will fight together to become the best team.“
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Bjoern Einar Romoeren scores farthest jump in qualification
Among the frenetic exaltation of 8.000 fans the ski flying athletes have completed the qualification for the competition on Friday. The crowd´s cheers made the athletes fly to distances over 200 metres. Bjoern Einar Romoeren from Norway even made it to 207 metres.
Austrian Martin Koch who already scored the biggest width in the first training round, took over the lead in the group of athletes who still had to qualify fort he competition on Friday. With 201 metres Koch ranked ahead of Germany´s Michael Uhrmann (195 metres) and French Emanuel Chedal (193 metres).
Among the athletes that had already been qualified, Norwegian Bjoern Einar Romoeren proved his ski flying abilities with a jump of 207 metres. Romoeren had already won the Ski Jumping World Cup in Willingen the week before. Also his team mates, title holder Roar Ljoekelsoey and Anders Jacobsen with jumps of 190 to 200 metres showed that they can be counted on for the weekend.
While Janne Ahonen left out the qualification Thomas Morgenstern almost scratched the 200 metres with his 198,5 metres jump. Gregor Schlierenzauer completed his first jumps on a ski jumping hill today. In the qualification he reached 182,5 metres. But Toni Innauer (Nordic Director for Ski Jumping and Nordic Combined in Austria) thinks that his young athlete hasn´t shown his full poptential yet: “Gregor can do better. He is adaptive and will adapt to the hill more and more within the next days so that he will be able to perform even better tomorrow.“
Ski Flying World Championships in Oberstdorf are opened!
The Ski Jumping World Championships in Oberstdorf are opened! 70 athletes have got a picture of the Heini Klopfer Ski Flying Hill and completed their first two jumps of the weekend.
At 2 pm Ivan Karaulov from Kazakhstan was the first one who jumped off the hill before 69 further athletes followed. Austria´s Martin Koch who wore bib number 56 set the farthest jump in the first round. With 209,5 metres he sent Finn Janne Ahonen (201 metres) and Adam Malysz from Poland (192,5 metres) to places two and three.
Janne Ahonen also confirmed his good shape in the second round, landing at 198,5 metres. So the winner of the Four Hills Tournament took over the lead ahead of Adam Malysz who made it to 197 metres this time and Norway´s Roar Ljoekelsoey who took over place three with a distance of 196,5 metres.
Young Austrian Gregor Schlierenzauer who completed his first jump on a Ski Flying Hill today, landed at 177,5 and 186,5 metres and was completely thrilled by this experience: “It was absolutely cool! There is almost nothing better than ski flying! I started off with a queasy feeling but I have reached my aim. It was the first time I jumped off from one of the highest ski flying hills around the world. I want to get back up and try it again immediately! I don´t have great expectations but a 200 metres jump would be nice.“
Voices after the training round on Thursday:
Gregor Schlierenzauer :
It was absolutely cool! There is almost nothing better than ski flying! I started off with a queasy feeling but I have reached my aim. It was the first time I jumped off from one of the highest ski flying hills around the world. I want to get back up and try it again immediately! I don´t have great expectations but a 200 metres jump would be nice.
Michael Neumayer:
I was relatively quiet. I first started getting nervous when I stood at the up there at the bar. But then there wasn´t much time left to think about it. Ski flying is always very fascinating. It´s the challenge par excellence. It´s the aim that you once succeed to jump off from such a hill. Anyway the first jump was quite alright.
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