OBERSTDORF, Germany -- Austria's Thomas Morgenstern continued his domination of ski-jumping with victory in the first round of the prestigious Four Hills tournament at Oberstdorf on Sunday.
Morgenstern takes the plaudits after his brilliant second jump.
Morgenstern, the double Olympic champion in 2006, made jumps of 136.5m and 141.5m for a points total of 295.9 to claim his seventh victory in eight World Cup events and sixth in a row.
The 21-year-old had to produce a superb second effort to finish ahead of 17-year-old compatriot Gregor Schlierenzauer (136/130.5m, 280.7 points) and Finland's Janne Ahonen (130.5/137m, 279 points).
"That was one of my best jumps ever -- just a huge feeling," said Morgenstern, who was scoring his first win in the tournament.
Morgenstern is now heavily favored to match the feat of German Sven Hannawald who was the last jumper to claim a clean sweep of wins in the Four Hills which is held over the New Year period.
"I'm jumping very well so a lot is possible," he said. "But right now what is important is the next event at Garmisch-Partenkirchen. Then we'll see."
Last season's winner Anders Jacobsen of Norway finished back in eighth while Poland's Adam Malysz, the reigning World Cup champions, was a distant 17th.
Austria's Andreas Kofler was injured in a crash on his first jump and will miss the other Four Hills events.
Morgenstern has a commanding lead in the overall standings this season with 760 points, 251 ahead of Schlierenzauer with Wolfgang Loitzl of Austria in third on 340 points. E-mail to a friend 
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