With most athletes having switched to the V-style, the sport was about to reach one of its biggest ever milestones. During the training round on the opening day of the event, Martin Höllwarth jumped to edge the world record ever closer to 200 m. This was the first time a world record had been set using the V-style, with Piotr Fijas' being the last to use the parallel style. Andreas Goldberger got tantalisingly close to the magic number when he landed at but failed to maintain his balance as he squatted down and touched the snow with his hands, rendering his jump an unofficial world record. The official honours went to Toni Nieminen only a short time later, who cleanly landed a history-making jump of to claim both the world record and the achievement of being the first ever ski jumper to break the 200 m barrier.