Stjernen leaps to victory in first ski flying of season

Taking to the hill in Tauplitz-Bad Mitterndorf, Stjernen recorded jumps of 229m and 226m for a points total of 407.6 – 2.5 ahead of fellow Norwegian Daniel Andre Tande.

The 29-year-old, a World Championship silver medallist on the large hill from last season, led after the first round and, despite only recording the sixth highest score of the second round, held on for victory.

Tande gave him a good push, with a mammoth effort of 240.5m in the second round giving him the highest points total of the second round, but it was only good enough to move him into silver medal position from his first-round placing of seventh.

Switzerland's Simon Ammann took the last spot on the podium, just missing out on the 400-point barrier by 0.1 point.

That third place was his 80th in ski jump World Cups, putting him fourth in the all-time leaderboard, eight behind Austria's Gregor Schlierenzauer in third place.

The result sees Stjernen top of the ski flying standings after the first of five World Cup events, with Kamil Stoch still leading the way atop the overall leaderboard.

The Pole has 731 points, 20 ahead of Germany's Richard Freitag with his compatriot Andreas Wellinger in third on 583.

Sportsbeat 2018