Nordic Combined: Norway wins Seefeld Team event

Norway’s Nordic Combined squad posted an impressive victory today (Jan. 14) at the DKB FIS Nordic Combined World Cup team event in Seefeld, Austria.
 
Magnus Moan, Haavard Klemetsen, Jan Schmid and Mikko Kokslien came back from a fourth place start after the jumping portion of the event; skiing to an 11.9 second victory ahead of Austria’s Felix Gottwald, Wilhelm Denifl, David Kreiner and Bernhard Gruber. Third place went to France with Francois Braud, Maxime Laheurte, Sebastien Lacroix and Jason Lamy Chappuis. The French team led after the jumping, but fell behind after Moan and Gottwald caught Braud in the first leg of the cross-country race.

In the end it was Norway and Austria who fought to cross the finish line first. With only kilometers to go, Kokslien broke away from Gruber and skied alone to victory.

“It was a very nice race, and my strategy to ski with Gruber first and to break away in the last kilometers of the race, worked out,” said Kokslien. “Once more, we have shown that we are a strong team. This gives us confidence for the World Championship competitions in Oslo.”

Germany chased France for the last spot on the podium waiting until the last leg to close the widening gap. With the finish quickly approaching,  Edelmann closed a 10-second-gap against Chappuis, but the Frenchman won the sprint holding the Germans off the podium by only 1.4 seconds.

“It is a great feeling being on the podium not alone but with the teammates,” said Lamy Chappuis. “We want to win a team medal at the World Championships, today, we proved that we are ready for this achievement.”
 
In the training round, Nordic Combined overall world cup leader Mario Stecher suffered a laceration of the capsule of his right knee during a110.5 m jump. It was suspected that he would be unable to participate in the two individual competitions this weekend, but team officials have confirmed his entry.

The U.S. was seventh with a young and rebuilding squad, led by Steamboat Springs native, Bryan Fletcher. The team also saw the return of three-time Olympic silver medalist Johnny Spillane after a six-month rehab from a knee injury. Todd Lodwick and Taylor Fletcher rounded out the American team in Seefeld.

 
Results
                    
 1    Norway                           NOR    47:31.2
          MOAN Magnus-H.               
          KLEMETSEN Haavard               
          SCHMID Jan               
          KOKSLIEN Mikko    
         
 2    Austria                            AUT    +47:43.1
          GOTTWALD Felix               
          DENIFL Wilhelm               
          KREINER David               
          GRUBER Bernhard         
    
 3    France                            FRA    +48:19.1
          BRAUD Francois               
          LAHEURTE Maxime               
          LACROIX Sebastien               
          LAMY CHAPPUIS Jason
             
 4    Germany                        GER    +48:20.5
          RYDZEK Johannes               
          FRENZEL Eric               
          KIRCHEISEN Bjoern               
          EDELMANN Tino           
  
 5    Italy                                ITA    +49:04.6
          MICHIELLI Giuseppe               
          BAUER Armin               
          RUNGGALDIER Lukas               
          PITTIN Alessandro   
          
 6    Japan                             JPN    +50:02.5
          KOBAYASHI Norihito               
          KATO Taihei               
          WATABE Akito               
          WATABE Yoshito         
    
 7    United States                USA    +50:08.6
          FLETCHER Taylor               
          FLETCHER Bryan               
          SPILLANE Johnny               
          LODWICK Todd              

 8    Switzerland                    SUI    +50:47.8
  &nbs
p;       HUG Tim               
          SCHMID Tommy               
          HURSCHLER Seppi               
          HEER Ronny              

 9    Russian Federation       RUS    +53:51.4
          MASLENNIKOV Sergej               
          PANIN Ivan               
          NABEEV Niyaz               
          MATVEEV Dimitry