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Because oft he reason that there were less English News during the hole Summer-Season we are having now a Season-Preview for all our English Speaking Fans:

After last winter, the simple question remains: What does he do for an encore? When we met last season pn this site, Switzerland's Simon Ammann was harvesting Olympic gold at Whistler Olympic Park. Now a year older and recently married, it's not hard to predict another whiz-bang winter for the diminutive ski jumper. Ammann recently told the FIS that his primary goal this season is to win the Four Hills Tournament over the holiday period. The rather modest man should be back on top this season.
 

Count on the extraordinary Austrian eagles to be dominant and steady performers again this season. You can tell a lot about coach Alexander Pointner's squad by the fact they are such clutch performers, day in and day out. Thomas Morgenstern, just 24 but already a veteran of the sport, the brilliant Gregor Schlierenzauer, Wolfgang Loitzl, the defending champion on the normal hill at Oslo, David Zauner and others lead the team.

The French may not enjoy a deep squad, yet one man bears watching and he's getting better and better. That's Vincent Descombes Sevoie, who has now become a solid top-20 jumper but often better than that. Last year he had a 13th in Kuopio and a 16th in Lillehammer. The Chamonix native (one of my favorite places; great trekking, skiing, and wicked good pizza) has taken part in 64 World Cups and will have a new French coach this year in Julien Eybert Guillion.

With the World Championships in Oslo on the jumps of Holmenkollen, look for the Norwegians to be both well prepared and motivated by head coach and Finnish native Mika Kojonkoski. Among the team's top flyers is 23-year-old Tom Hilde, who's been on the World Cup tour since 2005. He had a strong offseason of training and was ranked fourth overall last winter. The Norwegians won a bronze medal at the Olympics.

The Norwegians recently wrapped up a training camp in Predazzo, Italy. Not only did Hilde win both test competitions, but there were also strong efforts from Bjoern Einar Romoeren, Anders Bardal and Anders Jacobsen. There will be a lot of pressure on them jumping in front of the Norwegian crowd at Holmenkollen, but look for them to be especially impressive.

Everyone was especially happy to see Janne Ahonen return to action at last year's Olympics after a one-year retirement. The prodigiously talented Finn starts his 18th World Cup campaign in Kuusamo, Finland on Nov. 22. He said recently that he's enjoyed his "best summer jumps for years," and he is regarded as something of a national treasure. He has 11 World Championship medals and five wins at Four Hills and an astounding 108 podiums. He, however, did start his summer training a bit late this year, as he had knee surgery.