Jason Lamy Chappuis on top in Schonach - NordicFocus
The second Individual win of the Schonach weekend went to Jason Lamy Chappuis. After a strong race in stormy, rainy weather, he crossed the finish line 0.7 seconds ahead of local hero Johannes Rydzek. Third place went to Japan's Akito Watabe again who finished 1,1 seconds after the winner Lamy Chappuis.
Unfortunately, the ski jumping round had to be cancelled due to stormy wind conditions. So Friday's PCR results were taken into account which had Haavard Klemetsen start seven seconds ahead of Eric Frenzel and nine ahead of Watabe. The Norwegian set the longest jump of the day on Friday with 103 metres over Frenzel's 101 metres and Watabe also proved his good shape by jumping 100 metres and set himself up promisingly for yet another podium in Schonach.
On the whole, the PCR results were quite tight as 28 athletes were starting within one minute in the cross-country race. Strong racers Björn Kircheisen and Mikko Kokslien started 42 seconds and one minute behind the lead which set up an exciting starting position for the spectators who were still waiting for a German win even if the Schwarzwaldpokal went to a foreign nation again yesterday.
During the race, Frenzel and Watabe worked together and tried to keep the pursuing group at bay. Klemetsen could not hold on to the leaders today and finally fell back to rank 15. On the third lap, the pursuing group caught up with Frenzel and Watabe and in the pouring rain and strong winds, the fight for the podium was on. Austria's Lukas Klapfer tried to break away from the group around the intermediate time but could not hold onto the lead until the finish. On the last uphill, Lamy Chappuis was simply too strong and skied his victory into the finish. Behind him, Rydzek out-sprinted Watabe and Klapfer and claimed rank two at his home World Cup. Watabe collected another podium result and finished the year 2013 with two third places.
Frenzel takes the yellow BIB of the overall World Cup leader home for Christmas, leading the table with 403 points. Watabe ranks second with 341 points and Lamy Chappuis kicked Kokslien off the third rank with 312.
The Nordic Combined World Cup will go into its well-deserved short Christmas break now before heading to new World Cup venue Chaikovskiy, Russia shortly after New Year.
