Young gun Lindvik produces record-equalling jump for Four Hills win
Marius Lindvik claimed his first ever World Cup victory at the Four Hills ski-jumping event
GARMISCH-PARTENKIRCHEN (AFP) - Marius Lindvik claimed his first ever World Cup victory at the Four Hills ski-jumping event in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany on Wednesday thanks to a course record-equalling jump of 143.5 metres.
With his first jump the Norwegian outsider Lindvik, 21, levelled the record set by four-time Olympic gold medallist Simon Ammann 10 years ago.
Still on the circuit Ammann finished this second leg event way down in 24th on the day.
The feat put Lindvik way out in front of his rivals, and he followed it up with a second effort of 136m to claim an unexpected victory with 289.8 points.
"Yesterday I was struggling a bit here on this hill, but today I figured out what I needed to do," said Lindvik.
"It s special to win my first ever World Cup competition in Garmisch-Partenkirchen. I m very happy."
He finished nearly five points ahead of German Karl Geiger, who closed the gap between him and leader Ryoyu Kobayashi in the Four Hills standings to six points.
After his clean sweep last year Japan s Kobayashi won the first leg on Sunday but failed in his bid to follow up here by finishing fourth after jumps of 132m and 141m, which earned him 282.1 points.
The next stage of the competition takes place in Innsbruck on January 4 before finishing in Bischofshofen two days later.
