Around the World
4-Hills-Tournament without Janne Ahonen and Wolfgang Loitzl
With Janne Ahonen and Wolfgang Loitzl, two former 4-Hills-Tournament winners will not be participating in the opener of this year's 4-Hills in Oberstdorf.
Janne Ahonen, who was only competing in the two World Cups in Kuusamo this winter and finished only 29th and 32nd there, was not named to the four-man team of coach Jani Klinga. Lauri Asikainen, Anssi Koivuranta, Jarkko Maeaettae and Sami Niemi will take part in the traditional event for Finland.
"The will and the enthusiasm is there, but you have to be patient and realistic. I couldn't train normally for three to four months, but the good thing is that I'm able to jump again already. According to the first prognosis I would have been forced to take an even longer break", the 37-year-old is quoted on yle.fi. The next goal for the five-time 4-Hills-Tournament winner is to be fit again for the World Championships in Falun.
Poppinger and Fettner on the team
Besides Michael Hayboeck, Stefan Kraft, Gregor Schlierenzauer, Andreas Kofler and last year's overall winner Thomas Diethart, also Manuel Fettner and Manuel Poppinger are on the Austrian team and will participate in the World Cup for the first time this season. This means that veteran Wolfgang Loitzl, 4-Hills-Tournament winner in the 2008/09 season, whose best result this winter was a 26th place in Kuusamo, will miss at least the first two competitions in Oberstdorf and Garmisch-Partenkirchen.
In the last six years, the 4-Hills-Tournament was always won by an athlete of Austria and this year they also have some candidates for the win on theiir team, but Heinz Kuttin doesn't want to name a favorite. "Of course I hope that we can be among the best, it's extremely difficult to single out one name. The Top 10 in the World Cup are very strong and three Austrians are among them. We are looking forward to it and hope that it'll have a positive ending for us."
Janne Ahonen, who was only competing in the two World Cups in Kuusamo this winter and finished only 29th and 32nd there, was not named to the four-man team of coach Jani Klinga. Lauri Asikainen, Anssi Koivuranta, Jarkko Maeaettae and Sami Niemi will take part in the traditional event for Finland.
"The will and the enthusiasm is there, but you have to be patient and realistic. I couldn't train normally for three to four months, but the good thing is that I'm able to jump again already. According to the first prognosis I would have been forced to take an even longer break", the 37-year-old is quoted on yle.fi. The next goal for the five-time 4-Hills-Tournament winner is to be fit again for the World Championships in Falun.
Poppinger and Fettner on the team
Besides Michael Hayboeck, Stefan Kraft, Gregor Schlierenzauer, Andreas Kofler and last year's overall winner Thomas Diethart, also Manuel Fettner and Manuel Poppinger are on the Austrian team and will participate in the World Cup for the first time this season. This means that veteran Wolfgang Loitzl, 4-Hills-Tournament winner in the 2008/09 season, whose best result this winter was a 26th place in Kuusamo, will miss at least the first two competitions in Oberstdorf and Garmisch-Partenkirchen.
In the last six years, the 4-Hills-Tournament was always won by an athlete of Austria and this year they also have some candidates for the win on theiir team, but Heinz Kuttin doesn't want to name a favorite. "Of course I hope that we can be among the best, it's extremely difficult to single out one name. The Top 10 in the World Cup are very strong and three Austrians are among them. We are looking forward to it and hope that it'll have a positive ending for us."
Source: fis-ski.com
