Ski jumper gets last shot at Olympic gold

Janne Ahonen knows what it's like to be the favorite in ski jumping at the Winter Olympics. The Finnish veteran also knows he's running out of chances to win a gold medal.

Ahonen's teammate, Hannu Manninen, is hoping his dominant performance on the Nordic combined World Cup circuit this season will translate into an Olympic medal, while Todd Lodwick is trying to become the first American to win a Nordic combined medal.

And in the third Nordic discipline, cross-country skier Tobias Angerer of Germany is hitting his stride just in time for the Turin Olympics.

Ahonen, the two-time world champion, was favored to win four years ago at Salt Lake City but was upstaged by Switzerland's Simon Ammann, who won the gold medal in both the normal and large-hill events.

The only medal Ahonen walked away with was a silver that he won in the team event. He arrives in Turin as one of the favorites, but isn't putting too much pressure on himself to win his first individual medal.

"It's clear that these are my last Olympics," said the 28-year-old Ahonen, who will be competing in his fourth games. "I'm aiming for an individual medal, but if I don't get it the world will go on. There are more important things to life than ski jumping."

Ahonen was fourth on the normal hill in Salt Lake and a disappointing ninth on the large hill.

"The margins are so small," added Ahonen, who also missed out on the podium in Nagano in 1998. "Two jumps are nothing, but they can still mean so much. Everything depends on so little."

He arrives bolstered by two recent World Cup wins, but will have to contend with Jakub Janda of the Czech Republic, who has won five times on the World Cup circuit this year.

Switzerland's Andreas Kuettel and Norway's Roar Ljoekelsoey also will be among the contenders for the gold medal.

Ljoekelsoey led Norway to a team ski flying world championship on Jan. 15 in Austria and then captured his first World Cup victory of the season in Japan a week later to move into third place in the standings behind Janda and Ahonen.

"The win in flying and the victory in Japan will give me a lot of confidence in the Olympics," said Ljoekelsoey.

Since his gold-medal performances in Salt Lake, Ammann has struggled to regain his form and was a distant 15th in the World Cup standings midway through this season.

Manninen won a Nordic combined event in Harrachov, Czech Republic, on Jan. 22 for his ninth victory in 13 meets. The defending world champion leads Germany's Ronny Ackermann by more than 500 points in the World Cup standings.

"With this big a lead in the World Cup, it's now possible to focus on the Olympics," said Manninen, who was a member of Finland's gold-medal-winning team at Salt Lake City.

Ackermann, Norway's Magnus Moan and Austria's Mario Stecher also are medal contenders in Nordic combined. Finland's Samppa Lajunen, who won two gold medals in Salt Lake City, retired last season.

The United States has never earned an Olympic medal in Nordic combined, but Lodwick - who will be making his fourth Olympic appearance - is hoping to change that.

The 29-year-old Lodwick got off to a solid start to the 2005-06 World Cup season with a silver medal in Lillehammer, but then took time off for the birth of his daughter, Charley, on Dec. 29.

Angerer won his fifth cross-country skiing World Cup race by taking victory in a men's double pursuit on Jan. 21 in Oberstdorf, Germany, and arrives in Italy as one of the favorites for gold in the men's event. Vincent Vittoz of France and Norway's Tor Arne Hetland are also strong medal contenders.

Russia's Yulia Tchepalova won three cross-country medals in Salt Lake and one in Nagano and will be looking to add to her haul in Turin. She has one win on the World Cup circuit this season and was second in the standings after 14 events behind Norway's Marit Bjoergen.

Canada's Beckie Scott is off to a solid start this season and will be looking to prove she is worthy of the gold medal she was awarded after two Russian cross-country skiers who finished ahead of her in Salt Lake City were disqualified for doping.

Scott, who finished third in the 5-kilometer pursuit at the Salt Lake City Games, has won three times on the World Cup tour this season.