TORINO: Ski jump: Americans fail to advance; Bystoel takes gold

TORINO: Ski jump: Americans fail to advance; Bystoel takes gold{mosimage}Ski jumpers Alan Alborn and Clint Jones were unable to advance to the final round of the normal-hill individual event in ski jumping at the Pragelato venue Sunday afternoon.

Lars Bystoel of Norway came from behind to win the gold medal, upstaging World Cup leader Jakub Janda and veteran Janne Ahonen.

Alborn was 40th with a score of 106.5, while Jones placed 47th with a 97.5. The lowest score to advance to Sunday evening’s final round was 113.5, posted by Italy’s Sebastian Colloredo.

“I had a little bit of a tailwind and now it’s calming down, so chances are those other guys are going to start jumping further,” a disappointed Alborn said.

“It was a fun jump, it felt really good. Obviously I missed a little bit of it otherwise I would have jumped 105 (meters).”

Jones added, “Technically it was a little more of what I’m trying to do, but I was a little bit late on the timing, so it was a little bit better in one way and a little bit worse in another.

“Overall it was an OK jump. But the level out here is so high that any little mistake could mean a few meters distance. I don’t know that it’s going to hold up.

“I’m definitely looking forward to getting on the big hill. At this high altitude, I’m looking forward to getting a little more (air) pressure and a little more flying, which is really what Alan and I like.”

Bystoel, who was tied for sixth after the first round with a jump of 101.5 meters, soared 103.5 meters on his second attempt to move into first place with a total of 266.5 points.

Matti Hautamaeki of Finland took the silver, one point behind Bystoel. Another Norwegian, Roar Ljoekelsoey, won the bronze a further point back.

The leader after the first round, Dmitry Vassiliev of Russia, botched his landing in the second round and fell to 10th place.

Defending Olympic champion Simon Ammann of Switzerland was eliminated after the first round.

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The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Ski jumping normal-hill final rankings

1. Lars Bystoel, Norway, (101.5, 73.0, 58.0; 103.5, 77.0, 58.5) 266.5.
2. Matti Hautamaeki, Finland, (102.0, 74.0, 57.0; 103.5, 77.0, 57.5) 265.5.
3. Roar Ljoekelsoey, Norway, (102.5, 75.0, 57.0; 102.5, 75.0, 57.5) 264.5.
4. Michael Uhrmann, Germany, (101.0, 72.0, 56.0; 104.5, 79.0, 57.0) 264.0.
5. Andreas Kuettel, Switzerland, (103.0, 76.0, 57.5; 101.0, 72.0, 57.0) 262.5.
6. Janne Ahonen, Finland, (103.5, 77.0, 57.5; 100.0, 70.0, 57.0) 261.5.
7. Adam Malysz, Poland, (101.5, 73.0, 57.0; 102.5, 75.0, 56.0) 261.0.
8. Michael Neumayer, Germany, (103.5, 77.0, 52.5; 103.0, 76.0, 55.0) 260.5.
9. Thomas Morgenstern, Austria, (103.5, 77.0, 57.5; 99.5, 69.0, 56.0) 259.5.
10. Dmitry Vassiliev, Russia, (104.5, 79.0, 56.0; 100.5, 71.0, 52.5) 258.5.
11. Andreas Kofler, Austria, (100.5, 71.0, 56.0; 101.5, 73.0, 57.5) 257.5.
12. Georg Spaeth, Germany, (99.5, 69.0, 55.5; 100.0, 70.0, 56.5) 251.0.
13. Jakub Janda, Czech Republic, (99.0, 68.0, 55.5; 100.0, 70.0, 55.5) 249.0.
13. Michael Moellinger, Switzerland, (100.5, 71.0, 55.5; 98.5, 67.0, 55.5) 249.0.
15. Bjoern Einar Romoeren, Norway, (100.0, 70.0, 55.5; 98.5, 67.0, 55.5) 248.0.
16. Kamil Stoch, Poland, (100.0, 70.0, 55.5; 98.5, 67.0, 54.5) 247.0.
17. Andreas Widhoelzl, Austria, (98.0, 66.0, 54.5; 99.5, 69.0, 54.5) 244.0.
18. Daiki Ito, Japan, (100.0, 70.0, 56.0; 96.0, 62.0, 55.5) 243.5.
19. Dmitry Ipatov, Russia, (98.5, 67.0, 54.5; 98.5, 67.0, 54.0) 242.5.
20. Noriaki Kasai, Japan, (100.0, 70.0, 56.0; 95.5, 61.0, 54.0) 241.0.
21. Alexander Herr, Germany, (98.5, 67.0, 52.0; 94.5, 59.0, 53.0) 231.0.
21. Jan Matura, Czech Republic, (97.5, 65.0, 55.0; 93.5, 57.0, 54.0) 231.0.
23. Takanobu Okabe, Japan, (96.5, 63.0, 55.0; 94.5, 59.0, 52.5) 229.5.
23. Martin Koch, Austria, (97.5, 65.0, 53.0; 94.5, 59.0, 52.5) 229.5.
25. Robert Mateja, Poland, (95.5, 61.0, 54.0; 94.5, 59.0, 55.0) 229.0.
26. Radik Zhaparov, Kazakhstan, (98.0, 66.0, 49.0; 95.0, 60.0, 52.0) 227.0.
27. Sebastian Colloredo, Italy, (95.5, 61.0, 52.5; 95.0, 60.0, 53.0) 226.5.
28. Janne Happonen, Finland, (96.0, 62.0, 54.0; 93.5, 57.0, 52.0) 225.0.
29. Stefan Hula, Poland, (95.5, 61.0, 54.5; 90.5, 51.0, 51.5) 218.0.
30. Primoz Peterka, Slovenia, (97.0, 64.0, 54.5; 88.0, 46.0, 50.5) 215.0.