WC Chaux-Neuve 2011 - Jason Lamy Chappuis

It was not just the fight for the daily victory. It was the parforce ride in front of a home crowd, and it was the race for the overall World Cup. The Frenchman Jason Lamy Chappuis, at his home event in Chaux-Neuve, narrowly missed the provisional win of the big crystal globe. In the fourth win of the season for the 24-year-old, rival Mikko Kokslien from Norway finished third behind Austrian Felix Gottwald, keeping himself – even if rather hopelessly – in contention for the overall World Cup.

Lamy Chappuis, for his part, did everything possible to seal the World Cup even before the World Championships. With a jump of 115.5 meters, the local favorite clearly distanced the competition once again. Although Eric Frenzel (GER) set the clear best distance with a jump on the new hill record of 120 meters, wind regulations prevented a better placement than fourth. And Haavard Klemetsen (NOR) and Todd Lodwick (USA), who were ahead of Frenzel, already showed a more than half a minute deficit to jump winner Lamy Chappuis.

In the cross-country the World Cup leader then unsurprisingly did not let anything slip. Although the again well-coordinated Gottwald/Kokslien duo nearly recovered the entire deficit, Lamy Chappuis had to share the winner’s honors with no other athlete on the home stretch. “Normally I don’t like having to race from the front all by myself, but with this great crowd it was much easier for me,” said Lamy Chappuis.

Yet the hope of the around 6,000 spectators present for support in the fight for the overall World Cup did not materialize for the previous day’s winner David Kreiner and Tino Edelmann. They stayed in touch with the Austrian-Norwegian duo up to the finish sprint, but could no longer influence the fight for podium places. “Since I was last in our group, I was a bit short of speed after the last descent, so I couldn’t position myself any better,” said Edelmann.

Thus the decision for the overall World Cup is postponed to the season finale in Lahti, Finland (11/12 March). Lamy Chappuis goes into the last two winter races with a cushion of 180 points over Mikko Kokslien and will probably not be prevented from winning the title again. Much praise from all involved went toward the outstanding atmosphere in Chaux-Neuve. “I would have liked to have that much atmosphere at my home win in Lillehammer as well,” said Mikko Kokslien. And cross-country winner Felix Gottwald also spoke of a “great experience for all athletes” and announced toward the World Championships: “At the WM we’ll make Jason’s life harder.”

Source: www.nordische-kombination.de