Ahonen takes Four Hills Tournament title for historic fifth time

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Finland’s Janne Ahonen has made history by capping the traditional Four Hills ski-jumping tournament held in Germany and Austria for an unprecedented fifth time.
      On Sunday Ahonen won the concluding competition in Bischofshofen, Austria, and clinched the tournament title in comfortable fashion, with a 19-point cushion to his nearest rival.
      Austria’s Thomas Morgenstern, who finished in third place in Bischofshofen, was second overall.
     
Ahonen’s overall points for the four events held either side of the New Year were 1,085.8, against Morgernstern’s 1,066 points. Germany’s Michael Neumayer was the third man on the podium with an total of 994.9 points.
      The Austrian teenager Gregor Schlierenzauer, who was close up in 3rd going into the final competition, was among those who could not cope with the conditions on Sunday. He did not make the second round of jumping, and slumped to 12th place overall.
     
In the concluding event, Ahonen shared third place after a first round in which the later - and arguably better - jumpers were hampered by rain and a slushy glide-run. Ahonen outperformed most of his serious rivals in the first round, but it was his remarkable second effort - the longest jump in the competition - that guaranteed him the event victory.
      Ahonen’s leaps of 126 and 136 metres earned him 251.6 points. "From the takeoff I knew the second effort would take me a long way. The rest of the flight was pure pleasure", Ahonen recalled his sentiments during the second jump.
      Norway’s Anders Bardal, who was in the lead after the first round, finished second in Sunday's event with 243.6 points.
     
Previously Ahonen had won the Four Hills tournament four times, equalling the record of the former German ski-jumping legend, Jens Weissflog.
      With the historic five wins Ahonen now leads the Four Hills merit table by himself, and most experts agree it will be a long time indeed before his achievement can be bettered.
      "The historic aspect of what has happened has not sunk in yet. The last couple of days have been immense. This sensation is without an equal. I was a humble man when I arrived here", Ahonen summarised his emotions.
     
The humilty derived from the fact that hitherto Ahonen has not exactly set the hills on fire this season.
      His two wins on Saturday and Sunday and podium places in the first two events have nevertheless hoisted him up to a close third place in the FIS World Cup standings.
      As a trophy the winner of the tournament is awarded a Subaru Impreza car, as well as a cash prize of more than EUR 50,000.
      Ahonen’s initial reaction was that he would politely decline the gift wheels. Finland’s strict car tax legislation would cause him to have to pay thousands of euros if he were to receive the vehicle.
     
Of other Finns, Janne Happonen was 12th, Matti Hautamäki 19th, Sami Niemi 27th, and Arttu Lappi 29th in the Sunday competition.
      In the entire tournament, Happonen was also the second strongest Finn, finishing 10th overall.
     
Janne Ahonen can make a strong claim to be the best Finnish ski-jumper of all time, even against competition like Matti Nykänen.
      Nevertheless, a perusal of Ahonen's hugely impressive record over more than a decade at the top does throw up one curiosity: despite five Four Hills wins, a whole clutch of World Championship titles and medals, two FIS World Cup titles in 2004 and 2005, and more than 100 World Cup podium placings and 34 individual World Cup victories, Ahonen has never won an individual Olympic medal of any colour. He took a team silver in 2002 and 2006.
      All the same, winning over four events and eight jumps requires a consistency under varying conditions that is the hallmark of a great sportsman - and Ahonen has now delivered the goods no fewer than five times.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Ahonen has to settle for runner-up spot at Garmisch-Partenkirchen (2.1.2008)

Links:
  Janne Ahonen (Wikipedia)
  Four Hills Tournament (Wikipedia)
  Janne Ahonen (FIS pages)

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