Posted on 12/11/2004 9:05:06 AM PST by Grzegorz 246
HARRACHOV, Czech Republic (AFP) - Polish ski jump star Adam Malysz claimed victory in the World Cup large hill event ahead of Janne Ahonen of Finland and Germany's Georg Spaeth.
Ahonen, who had been hoping to score what would have been a record fifth consecutive victory, finished second to retain his lead of the World Cup.
Malysz, who lit up the World Cup ski jump two seasons ago but had a less successful campaign last season, was awarded a total of 284.2 points for his two jumps of 143 and 136 metres.
The 27-year-old double world champion led after the first round and his second jump was enough to hold off Ahonen, who was awarded 279 points for jumps of 141 and 136 metres.
After his first win of the season, Malysz explained the delay in his form.
"Before the start of the season the Polish team was only practising on normal hills. That's why it took time for me to get in shape," said Malysz, who was given a boost by the mass presence of Polish supporters.
"There were so many Polish specators here so I had to jump well. To see all the red and white flags gave me some extra motivation.
"I'm sorry for Janne that he didn't win but that's sport - we have to battle each other all the time."
Ahonen had to finish his day's work knowing he would still be sharing the start-of-season record of four consecutive wins with Austrian Andreas Felder, whom he said was his boyhood hero.
"That I didn't win for the fifth time in a row is no problem for me. It's okay for me to have the record of the most victories in the beginning of a season together with Andreas Felder. When I was a young boy he was my idol," said Ahonen.
Spaeth meanwhile did well to climb on to the podium having been in tenth spot after his first jump of 135m. His second jump of 141 was the best of the second round, and he just missed out on displacing Ahonen by 0.2 points.
Another round of ski jumping will be held on the same hill here Sunday.
BUMP for Malysz!! :)
Bump for a great Pole!
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