NORDIC COMBINED WORLD CUP. It was not only the fight for today's victory. It was a great performance in front of a home crowd and it was the fight to win the overall World Cup. French Jason Lamy Chappuis narrowly missed to secure the overall title in his home competition in Chaux Neuve. The 24-year-old celebrated his fourth victory this season ahead of Mikko Kokslien from Norway and Austrian Felix Gottwald - so Kokslien still has a chance to win the overall World Cup, even if it's very small.

Jason Lamy Chappuis of France performs on his way to win the Nordic Combined Ski World Cup in Chaux-Neuve, eastern France, Sunday, Jan. 23, 2011. (AP Photo/Laurent Cipriani)

Lamy Chappuis did everything he could to win the World Cup title before the World Championships. With a jump on 115.5 m he was cleary ahead of the competition. Eric Frenzel (GER) set a new hill record of 120 m, but because of the wind compensation he was only fourth. Haavard Klementsen (NOR) and Todd Lodwick (USA) were also already more than half a minute behind Lamy Chappuis.

The victory was then not in danger for the World Cup leader. Gottwald and Kokslien worked together and almost closed the gap, but Lamy Chappuis didn't have to share the applause of the crowd on the finished straight. "Actually I don't really like to run the race alon, but with this great audience it was a lot easier", said Lamy Chappuis.

But David Kreiner and Tino Edelmann did not fulfil the wish of the 6000 fans and didn't support Lamy Chappuis in the fight for the overall title. They kept up to Gottwald and Kokslien until the final sprint, but then they were not able to fight for the podium results. "I was last in our group so I didn't have enough speed at the end and couldn't get in a better position ", said Edelmann.

So the World Cup will be decided at the season final in Lahti (FIN) on March 11th and 12th. Lamy Chappuis has a lead of 180 points ahead of Mikko Kokslien with only two more competitions left. Everyone praised the great atmosphere in Chaux Neuve. "I would have loved to have such an atmosphere when I won at home in Lillehammer", said Kokslien. And also Felix Gottwald said it was a "great experience for all athletes" and already looked ahead to the World Championships: "There we will make it more difficult for Jason."

FISnordiccombined.com
23.01.2011 15:28

First World Cup victory for David Kreiner

You could already imagine what the 10 km race would look like after looking at the results of the ski jumping at the first World Cup competition in Chaux-Neuve. The winner Jason Lamy Chappuis would be in he lead, during the race the strong duo Felix Gottwald and Mikko Kokslien would close the gap and then these three would fight for the victory. Or could Magnus Moan, who started 1.25 minutes behind, play a good role? Could be possible. But somebody else celebrated at the end. David Kreiner beat the whole world class in the final sprint and celebrated his first World Cup victory.

Until the finishing straight everything went as expected. Lamy Chappuis was in the lead, Gottwald and Kokslien got closer and closer. But not only these two made a good race. David Kreiner was seventh after the jumping and improved his position. And while Magnus Moan could only move up from 32nd to 15 with the seventh best time in the race, Kreiner made a great race and was the best in the sprint.

Kreiner is the sixth Austrian to win a World Cup competition, and the 55th winner in the 27 year history of the nordic combined World Cup. "Such a victory feels great. I ran with Felix Gottwald after my good jump and at the end it was easier than I expected", said Kreiner. Also his training partner and motivator Gottwald praised the 29-year-old from Kitzbuehel. "We are training together for two years. I'm very happy for David. I lost a lot of strength when we tried to close the gap. But still I'm satisfied with my race."

For the German team the last World Cup weekend before the World Championships in Oslo didn't start well. For the first time this season no athlete of head coach Hermann Weinbuch was in the Top 10. But Tino Edelmann, 13th today, was satisfied: "i'm satisfied with my performance, but not with the result. I was fighting, but more was not possible today."

The overall World Cup was not decided yet. Jason Lamy Chappuis was fourth, and that was not enough to win the title with three more competitions to go. Mikko Kokslien is now only 140 points behind the French. If Lamy Chappuis would win on Sunday and Kokslien is not on the podium that he will defend his title. Also if Lamy Chappuis finishes second and Kokslien seventh. If Lamy Chappuis will be third or worse, it will be decided in March in Lahti.

FISnordiccombined.com
22.01.2011 16:16