Schlierenzauer can set new record with 9th straight 4H podium
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Gregor Schlierenzauer (AUT) has made the podium in the last eight Four Hills events – all four in each of the last two seasons. The last time he missed a Four Hills podium was when he came 23rd in Bischofshofen in 2011, coming off an injury.
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Schlierenzauer shares the record of eight straight Four Hills podiums with Björn Wirkola (NOR, 1966-68) and Janne Ahonen (FIN, 2004-06). Schlierenzauer can therefore become the first man with nine consecutive Four Hills podiums if he is in the top three in Oberstdorf. Schlierenzauer can equal record with 3rd 4H victory in Oberstdorf.
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Schlierenzauer has won two Four Hills events in Oberstdorf (2006 and 2011) and he can equal the record of three, held by Dieter Thoma (FRG/GER) and Martin Schmitt (GER). Aside from Schlierenzauer, Ahonen and Thomas Morgenstern (AUT) are the other active jumpers who have two Four Hills wins in Oberstdorf and could win their third this year, though Morgenstern may not participate.
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If Schlierenzauer wins for a third time in Oberstdorf to add to his three Four Hills wins in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, he will become the third man to win at least three times on at least two of the four hills. Wirkola won three times in each in Garmisch, Innsbruck and Bischofshofen, while Jens Weißflog (GDR/GER) won four times in Garmisch and three times in Bischofshofen. Ahonen, who has won three times in Bischofshofen, could also join this group by winning for a third time in Oberstdorf.
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Schlierenzauer can therefore become the first man to win at least three times on both German legs of the Four Hills tournament by winning in Oberstdorf.
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Schlierenzauer has five Four Hills wins in Germany and with a victory in Oberstdorf he would equal Weißflog's record of six.
Norway can equal Finland with a 45th Four Hills victory
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Norwegian jumpers have won 44 individual Four Hills events, third behind Austria (58) and Finland (45). [Note: All German states together have won 54 (East Germany 30, Germany 17, West Germany 7.)]
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Norway can therefore equal Finland on 45 wins with a victory in Oberstdorf.
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Anders Jacobsen (NOR) won in Oberstdorf last year. If a Norwegian wins this year, it will be the third time, and first since 1965, that Norway will have won the Four Hills event in Oberstdorf in consecutive years.
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Oberstdorf is Norway's least successful of the four hills with 10 wins. An 11th victory in Oberstdorf this year would see it equal Garmisch and Innsbruck. Norwegians have won most often in Bischofshofen (12).
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Norway's 10 victories in Oberstdorf have been courtesy of 10 different jumpers. Jacobsen can therefore become the first Norwegian to win twice in Oberstdorf, but he has yet to hit top form so far this season.
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Norway's top jumper, Anders Bardal, is aiming for his first victory in a Four Hills event.
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Bardal has been on the podium four times in Four Hills events. Oberstdorf is the only one of the four hills in which he has never made the podium; his best Oberstdorf result was 6th in 2011.
Germany hoping to reverse recent trend in Oberstdorf
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Since reunification in 1990, Germany has won nine Four Hills events in Oberstdorf, more than any other country during that time (Austria is next with six).
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This makes Oberstdorf easily Germany's most successful Four Hills venue. Germany has won four times in Bischofshofen, three times in Garmisch and once in Innsbruck since 1990.
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However, these nine wins in Oberstdorf all came in the first 13 years after reunification. Since Sven Hannawald's victory in 2002, Germany has not won in Oberstdorf and German jumpers have managed only one podium there – Severin Freund's third place last year.
