December 23, 2007 (Engelberg, Switzerland) – National favorite Andreas Küttel gave the home crowd plenty to cheer about Sunday, winning a World Cup jumping competition and dealing Austrian Thomas Morgenstern his first setback after winning the first six events of the 2008 season.
He had the longest jump in the qualifying round, going 123 metres to lead the elimination round. “I felt I’m in good shape after that first jump,” Küttel said. “I had a good setup and the whole feeling was good today.â€
“This is a great Christmas present for me. Of course, it’s something special to win here in Engelberg.”
Küttel had the second-best jump in each round. He went 125.5 and 136 metres when the competition got underway, good for 252.7 points. Second place, and leading the Austrians into six of the next seven places, was Gregor Schlierenzauer. He had 248.9 points on jumps of 124.5 and 136 metres.
The first-round leader was Austrian Andreas Kofler, the 2006 Olympic silver medalist behind Morgenstern, but Kofler had problems on his second jump and had only the 14th-best jump, dropping him to fifth overall.
Morgenstern was fourth in each round with jumps of 124.5 and 135 as he finished third overall at 246.6. He was a bit philosophical about losing and then having a week-long break before the Four Hills Tournee begins Dec. 30 in Oberstdorf, Germany. “I jumped really good today,” he said. “The best thing that happened is that the series ended before the Four Hills tournament. “Who knows what it’s good for that I did not win today?”
No North Americans competed in Engelberg.
Full results here.