Janne Ahonen wins the first event of Four Hills Tournament

Before the jumps of Małysz and Ahonen in the trial round, the launch was moved down to gate 17. and wasn't changed before the first round of the competition. Together with changeable wind, it didn't make it easier for ski jumpers to achieve long distances. Japan's Daiki Ito was guaranteed the third place after the first leg with his leap of 125 metres. But everybody waited for two jumps from competitors of the last pairing: the first to jump, Adam Małysz, floated 124,5 metres and failed to take the lead. Then Ahonen, after a huge effort of 127 metres, won the first round with 3.6 points ahead of Ito. Adam Małysz, with the third longest jump, entered the top 30. as the top lucky loser.

In the second round, some ski jumpers could take advantage of better conditions on the hill. That was the case of Roar Ljoekelsoey, who made an amazing effort of 140 metres, approaching the hill record of 143,5 metres set last year by his countryman Sigurd Pettersen. Ljoekelsoey managed to stretch an overwhelming lead and thus, on 258.8 points, settled for second place, ahead of Adam Małysz, whose 129 metres wasn't enough to beat the Norwegian. Janne Ahonen, with a second-round leap of 133,5 metres, ensured his victory.

It was the first time this season that three Poles entered the top 30. Robert Mateja finished in a very good, 14th place, after a technically brilliant effort of 129 metres in the second round. 28th place by Krystian Długopolski has let him earn his first World Cup points in this season.

The first event of Four Hills has also brought a few surprises: with a feeble effort of 106,5 metres, Andreas Widhoezl failed to oust Germany's Kai Bracht and didn't qualify for the second round. Also Martin Schmitt, in spite of a great applause from the home crowd, mis-timed his launch and managed only 94,5 metres.