January 03, 2013 (Innsbruck, Austria) – Park City, Utah’s Anders Johnson has made it into the Big Show for tomorrow qualifying 47th with a jump of 112.5 meters on the famed Olympic ski jumps at the Bergisel Hill in this town in the Tirol region of Austria. The top fifty ski jumpers qualify, in this, the 61st edition of the Four Hills Tournee.
Johnson was pleased with his showing..”I feel great, I’ve been close so far, but this is like getting a monkey off my back. It’s good. I felt my quali jump was pretty good, and got some good lift and while my jump wasn’t the best I’ve ever had, it was ok…I’ve still got things to work on for tomorrow here in Innsbruck.”
Regarding the final jump, the two time US Olympian said… “The hardest part for me is the qualifying, I’m still an underdog, but–who knows–a little bit of luck can go a long way in this sport.”
Pete Frenette (Saranac Lake, NY) was close to qualifying again today with a jump of 109.5 meters, which placed him in 53rd, while Canada’s Mackenzie Boyd-Clowes (Calgary) had a 110.5 meter jump and was 55th. The 21-year-old Canadian competes for the Altius Nordic Ski Club in Calgary.
Both Gregor Schlierenzauer (AUT), who had a jump of 123.5 m, and the Four Hills overall leader Norwegian Anders Jacobsen who leapt to a jump of 125.5 m today were pre-qualified.
In the finals Johnson will be paired with Polish star, 21 year-old, Maciej Kot of Zakopane, in the knock out format. The Polish team was dominant in today’s qualification, with both Kot and Kamil Stoch sharing the win with 125 m jumps.
Steamboat Springs native, USA Coach Clint Jones was also pleased with Johnson’s performance, saying… “Overall Anders jumps were close again, like the other guys– but even in his last jump his take off move wasn’t as good as his earlier jumps but he did execute what we have been talking about. He was more patient with his hips and in keeping his skis under him so he was able to kind of build a little longer over the knoll, if he can do that in the finals, it’s easily another five meters pretty quickly. Anders qualification should actually take some pressure off him, which should be good. But the goal is still to focus on the technique side of things that we have been working on. Then the results will take care of themselves.”