Ahonen has to settle for runner-up spot at Garmisch-Partenkirchen

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The second round of the traditional Four Hills ski-jumping event was held on New Year’s Day, and Finland’s Janne Ahonen, a four-time previous winner of the event, came close to winning on the big hill at Garmisch-Partenkirchen, but eventually had to be content with second place.
      He came up 1.7 points short of Austria’s teenage sensation Gregor Schlierenzauer, whose second jump of 141 metres set a new record for the hill. Ahonen’s first leap of 139 metres had set the pace, but he could only reach 135 metres on his second attempt.
     
The Finn could possibly feel a little aggrieved, in that he has jumped cumulatively further than his 17-year-old rival on both occasions, in Oberstdorf and Garmisch, but has seen the Austrian go past him on the strength of better style points.
      Ahonen, already a 30-year-old veteran of the sport, often falls foul of the judges for his telemark landings, but he has been openly critical of the wide spread of marks he receives, implying that there are some fundamental differences of interpretation among the jumping judges.
     
Ahonen is in third place in the overall Four Hills standings, with the third event being held in Innsbruck on January 4th.
      Schlierenzauer leads by 3.2 points from Austria’s Thomas Morgenstern (6th on Tuesday), with Ahonen just 0.2 points behind him.
      Morgenstern is the runaway leader in the FIS World Cup tables this season, and after an impressive win at Oberstdorf, it had looked as though he would clean up at this event, too.


Links:
  Four Hills Tournament (Wikipedia)

Helsingin Sanomat