Ahonen crushes the hill record in Willingen

After the second-round record jump of 152 metres, Janne Ahonen won the night event in Willingen and made it eleventh victory out of thirteen competitions in the season. Austria's Martin Hoellwarth (137 and 146,5 metres) was second while Switzerland's Andreas Kuettel (136,5 and 141 metres) completed the podium in third. Adam Małysz finished in ninth place with two efforts of 126,5 and 133 metres.

In the first round, 136 -metre- jump from Janne Ahonen didn't let him beat Japan's Daiki Ito, whose 139 metres saw him into first place before the final leg. Martin Hoellwarth was second, ahead of Andreas Kuettel, Michael Uhrmann and Jakub Janda. But the best was yet to come: in the second round, the Finn soared into staggering 152 metres and broke Adam Małysz's hill record by 0,5 metre. His huge jump stunned even the judges who first announced an incredible result of 155,5 metres. Ito, first after the first round, cracked before his second attempt and with modest 132,5 metres, settled for sixth place.

Adam Małysz, with 126,5 metres in the first leg, managed to move from 13th to 9th position after his second-round leap of 133 metres. Robert Mateja jumped 111 metres and finished back in 36th position.

In the overall World Cup standings, Ahonen leads on 1260 points. Martin Hoellwarth with 717 points moved to second position while Jakub Janda of the Czech Republic slipped into third place on 672 points. Adam Małysz is sixth on 518 points.