Nordic Combined: Stecher wins World Cup at home
SEEFELD, Austria (Jan. 31) – Austrian nordic combined skier Mario Stecher won a World Cup competition in his hometown of Seefeld today. Yesterday’s winner, German Eric Frenzel came in second ahead of Italian Alessandro Pittin in third.
“It is very emotional to win in front of my home crowd,” said Stecher. “My wife and my son were also present, and it is just great to hear all these people cheer for you.”
Austrian Bernhard Gruber led the field coming out of the jumping portion with a 98-meter leap. Frenzel had the second best jump while Stecher stood ninth going into the cross country ski race with a 47-second penalty.
Stecher, a proven strong finisher, made the right choices in the last turn, saving some strength and attacking in the right moment. He outraced Frenzel by one second.
“I wasn’t really happy with my ski jumping attempt, but the points of disadvantage weren’t that much,” said Stecher. “I have to admit that I’m not a big fan of the wind and gate factor rules, but today they were on my side.”
Tenth-place finisher, Swiss Seppi Hurschler earned the fastest cross country time in 24 minutes and 36 seconds.
The race for the overall title is all but closed as Frenchman Jason Lamy-Chappuis, who skipped today’s race, holds a commanding 295-point lead with three World Cup events remaining on this season’s calendar.
Overall standing:
1. Jason Lamy Chappuis (FRA) 969, 2. Felix Gottwald (AUT) 674, 3. Eric Frenzel (GER) 661, 4. Magnus Moan (NOR) 542, 5. Tino Edelmann (GER) 525, 6. Mario Stecher (AUT) 485.
| 1 | 9 | 8 | STECHER Mario | 1977 | AUT | 25:32.8 | |
| 2 | 2 | 1050 | FRENZEL Eric | 1988 | GER | 25:33.8 | |
| 3 | 6 | 1029 | PITTIN Alessandro | 1990 | ITA | 25:35.0 | |
| 4 | 13 | 1650 | SCHMID Jan | 1983 | NOR | 25:35.9 | |
| 5 | 15 | 35 | GOTTWALD Felix | 1976 | AUT | 25:36.3 | |
| 6 | 4 | 1136 | WATABE Akito | 1988 | JPN | 25:38.4 | |
| 7 | 1 | 252 | GRUBER Bernhard | 1982 | AUT | 25:42.4 | |
| 8 | 7 | 203 | HEER Ronny | 1981 | SUI | 25:44.9 | |
| 9 | 25 | 200 | HASENEY Sebastian | 1978 | GER | 26:01.1 | |
| 10 | 30 | 349 | HURSCHLER Seppi | 1983 | SUI | 26:02.0 | |
| 11 | 29 | 643 | MICHIELLI Giuseppe | 1985 | ITA | 26:02.8 | |
| 12 | 22 | 768 | MINATO Yusuke | 1985 | JPN | 26:05.0 | |
| 13 | 27 | 205 | KOBAYASHI Norihito | 1982 | JPN | 26:06.3 | |
| 14 | 20 | 670 | SCHLOTT Mark | 1985 | GER | 26:07.8 | |
| 15 | 10 | 1015 | PICHLMAYER Marco | 1987 | AUT | 26:10.3 | |
| 16 | 17 | 1192 | DRUML Tomaz | 1988 | AUT | 26:14.0 | |
| 17 | 12 | 137 | KREINER David | 1981 | AUT | 26:18.7 | |
| 18 | 3 | 111 | BIELER Christoph | 1977 | AUT | 26:22.2 | |
| 19 | 23 | 419 | KLEMETSEN Haavard | 1979 | NOR | 26:35.3 | |
| 20 | 19 | 594 | KREINER Benjamin | 1985 | AUT | 26:43.4 | |
| 21 | 21 | 1444 | SCHMID Tommy | 1988 | SUI | 26:47.6 | |
| 22 | 24 | 592 | KLAPFER Lukas | 1985 | AUT | 26:48.1 | |
| 23 | 16 | 727 | KATO Taihei | 1984 | JPN | 26:48.6 | |
| 24 | 11 | 1296 | BOESL Wolfgang | 1989 | GER | 26:52.4 | |
| 25 | 8 | 214 | DENIFL Wilhelm | 1980 | AUT | 26:53.9 | |
| 26 | 18 | 1147 | POCHWALA Tomasz | 1983 | POL | 26:59.3 | |
| 27 | 36 | 715 | ORANIC Mitja | 1986 | SLO | 27:29.3 | |
| 28 | 44 | 1205 | PINEL Florian | 1985 | FRA | 27:30.9 | |
| 29 | 38 | 591 | KAMMERLANDER Tobias | 1986 | AUT | 27:33.3 | |
| 30 | 43 | 249 | MYSLICKI Jason | 1977 | CAN | 27:54.4 | |
| 31 | 41 | 347 | BEETZ Christian | 1984 | GER | 27:54.5 | |
| 32 | 31 | 1465 | CAILLEAU Wilfried | 1989 | FRA | 27:56.8 | |
| 33 | 47 | 722 | TRACHUK Volodymyr | 1985 | UKR | 27:58.4 | |
| 34 | 50 | 1621 | STORLIEN Ole Martin | 1988 | NOR | 27:58.8 | |
| 35 | 32 | 1001 | KUTAL Petr | 1988 | CZE | 28:02.2 | |
| 36 | 40 | 1204 | MARTIN Nicolas | 1989 | FRA | 28:14.6 | |
| 37 | 14 | 637 | BRESADOLA Davide | 1988 | ITA | 28:34.7 | |
| 38 | 5 | 1404 | DIER Dominik | 1989 | AUT | 28:51.9 | |
| 39 | 33 | 621 | HOLLENSTEIN Michael | 1984 | SUI | 28:59.2 | |
| 40 | 42 | 1488 | TIIRMAA Karl-August | 1989 | EST | 29:05.9 | |
| 41 | 48 | 1265 | ZARYCKI Andrzej | 1989 | POL | 29:07.6 | |
| 42 | 37 | 1531 | SOKOLENKO Konstantin | 1987 | KAZ | 29:29.3 | |
| 43 | 39 | 1524 | MATURA Tomas | 1989 | CZE | 29:30.3 | |
| 44 | 46 | 1218 | BIERI Joel | 1989 | SUI | 30:04.1 | |
| 45 | 45 | 1433 | VIRY David | 1989 | FRA | 30:13.8 | |
| 46 | 49 | 1641 | KHOMIN Oleksiy | 1990 | UKR | 30:25.6 | |
| 47 | 35 | 357 | SOBOLEV Ivan | 1983 | BLR | 30:56.7 | |
| Did not start | |||||||
| 34 | 294 | GUENTER Andreas | 1988 | GER | |||
| 28 | 217 | HETTICH Georg | 1978 | GER | |||
| 26 | 257 | KIRCHEISEN Bjoern | 1983 | GER | |||
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About the Author: Eric Williams
