Austria rang in the New Year with a bang today (Dec. 8), making history by completing their first World Cup podium sweep at the Schonach, Germany DKB FIS World Cup. Felix Gottwald took first, with Mario Stecher in second and Gruber Bernhard rounding out the podium in third.
Gottwald’s career 23rd victory came only three weeks after a shoulder injury and, with his 35th birthday on January 13th, he also is now the oldest athlete to win a Nordic Combined World Cup. “I was happy that I injured my shoulder and that it was nothing more serious,” he said. “Then, I worked hard to come back, I did not follow school medicine ideas, which say do not to move a broken bone. My therapy worked. We can see the result today.”
Jason Lamy Chappuis (FRA) won the ski jumping portion of the event, posting a new hill record on the “Langenwaldschanze” and then leading the pack in the cross-country for the more than half the race. Unfortunately, an illness from last week is said to have slowed him down allowing a group of four to take the lead. He was unable to stay with the pack, dropping to 11th place, his worst showing in over a year. However, Lamy Chappuis still remains among the top racers in the field holding on to second place in the overall standings.
Fastest on the track was Mikko Kokslien (NOR) moving up from a 39th place mid-session to a final eighth place.
Mario Stecher now leads the overall standings. “It is a special day for me – being on the podium with two teammates, and holding the yellow bib as the overall World Cup leader. The last time I led the overall was 14 years ago,” he said.
The U.S. Ski Team’s Bryan Fletcher posted a strong jump in ninth, but dropped back in cross country after breaking a pole to finish 31st and out of the points.
“We had really expected that Bryan would be able to hold his position in cross country,” said Nordic Combined Coach Chris Gilbertson. “He just got frustrated with the situation. A big train caught him and passed him and he wasn’t able to hang onto them. He lost a lot of enery to that.”
The FIS Nordic Combined World Cup will continue with another event in Schonach tomorrow (Dec. 9).
| Rank | Bib | FIS Code | Name | Year | Nation | Result | |
| 1 | 13 | 35 | GOTTWALD Felix | 1976 | AUT | 24:38.4 | |
| 2 | 6 | 8 | STECHER Mario | 1977 | AUT | 24:54.0 | |
| 3 | 2 | 252 | GRUBER Bernhard | 1982 | AUT | 24:54.6 | |
| 4 | 7 | 1650 | SCHMID Jan | 1983 | NOR | 25:01.5 | |
| 5 | 15 | 1136 | WATABE Akito | 1988 | JPN | 25:09.8 | |
| 6 | 11 | 590 | RYDZEK Johannes | 1991 | GER | 25:12.0 | |
| 7 | 14 | 257 | KIRCHEISEN Bjoern | 1983 | GER | 25:15.2 | |
| 8 | 39 | 1149 | KOKSLIEN Mikko | 1985 | NOR | 25:19.0 | |
| 9 | 31 | 973 | MOAN Magnus-H. | 1983 | NOR | 25:20.7 | |
| 10 | 36 | 137 | KREINER David | 1981 | AUT | 25:21.2 | |
| 11 | 1 | 610 | LAMY CHAPPUIS Jason | 1986 | FRA | 25:25.3 | |
| 12 | 23 | 1003 | DVORAK Miroslav | 1987 | CZE | 25:32.3 | |
| 13 | 18 | 1464 | RUNGGALDIER Lukas | 1987 | ITA | 25:33.9 | |
| 14 | 16 | 459 | LACROIX Sebastien | 1983 | FRA | 25:38.6 | |
| 15 | 3 | 419 | KLEMETSEN Haavard | 1979 | NOR | 25:43.9 | |
| 16 | 35 | 1050 | FRENZEL Eric | 1988 | GER | 25:44.1 | |
| 17 | 19 | 1152 | RYYNAENEN Janne | 1988 | FIN | 25:45.9 | |
| 18 | 38 | 205 | KOBAYASHI Norihito | 1982 | JPN | 25:47.6 | |
| 19 | 17 | 683 | RIAN Espen | 1981 | NOR | 25:55.1 | |
| 20 | 5 | 727 | KATO Taihei | 1984 | JPN | 25:56.7 | |
| 21 | 26 | 715 | ORANIC Mitja | 1986 | SLO | 26:06.5 | |
| 22 | 21 | 351 | EDELMANN Tino | 1985 | GER | 26:08.1 | |
| 23 | 34 | 1410 | BAUER Armin | 1990 | ITA | 26:08.4 | |
| 24 | 29 | 768 | MINATO Yusuke | 1985 | JPN | 26:12.5 | |
| 25 | 22 | 347 | BEETZ Christian | 1984 | GER | 26:14.4 | |
| 26 | 12 | 1296 | BOESL Wolfgang | 1989 | GER | 26:24.3 | |
| 27 | 28 | 606 | BRAUD Francois | 1986 | FRA | 26:26.5 | |
| 28 | 37 | 623 | HUG Tim | 1987 | SUI | 26:28.0 | |
| 29 | 8 | 1700 | WATABE Yoshito | 1991 | JPN | 26:29.2 | |
| 30 | 24 | 1418 | BERLOT Gasper | 1990 | SLO | 26:35.6 | |
| 31 | 9 | 1067 | FLETCHER Bryan | 1986 | USA | 26:37.4 | |
| 32 | 40 | 1029 | PITTIN Alessandro | 1990 | ITA | 26:41.9 | |
| 33 | 42 | 592 | KLAPFER Lukas | 1985 | AUT | 26:45.6 | |
| 34 | 61 | 200 | HASENEY Sebastian | 1978 | GER | 26:47.9 | |
| 35 | 10 | 1059 | REUSCHEL Sebastian | 1988 | GER | 26:53.5 | |
| 36 | 49 | 1164 | FELISAZ Jonathan | 1985 | FRA | 26:55.8 | |
| 37 | 4 | 1434 | JELENKO Marjan | 1991 | SLO | 26:56.3 | |
| 38 | 27 | 609 | LAHEURTE Maxime | 1985 | FRA | 27:08.9 | |
| 39 | 56 | 203 | HEER Ronny | 1981 | SUI | 27:12.0 | |
| 40 | 54 | 416 | SLAVIK Tomas | 1981 | CZE | 27:16.5 | |
| 41 | 55 | 643 | MICHIELLI Giuseppe | 1985 | ITA | 27:16.8 | |
| 42 | 60 | 1192 | DRUML Tomaz | 1988 | AUT | 27:20.7 | |
| 43 | 62 | 676 | TEPEL Steffen | 1985 | GER | 27:26.8 | |
| 44 | 20 | 1479 | PANIN Ivan | 1987 | RUS | 27:27.0 | |
| 45 | 57 | 1486 | PIHO Kail | 1991 | EST | 27:33.0 | |
| 46 | 30 | 1462 | CIESLAR Adam | 1992 | POL | 27:33.2 | |
| 47 | 53 | 349 | HURSCHLER Seppi | 1983 | SUI | 27:36.7 | |
| 48 | 32 | 694 | VODSEDALEK Ales | 1985 | CZE | 27:40.4 | |
| 49 | 45 | 294 | GUENTER Andreas | 1988 | GER | 27:42.6 | |
| 50 | 46 | 1147 | POCHWALA Tomasz | 1983 | POL | 27:44.7 | |
| 51 | 63 | 100002 | GRAABAK Joergen | 1991 | NOR | 27:45.0 | |
| 52 | 25 | 1444 | SCHMID Tommy | 1988 | SUI | 27:45.3 | |
| 53 | 44 | 1600 | FAISST Manuel | 1993 | GER | 27:45.5 | |
| 54 | 51 | 215 | CHURAVY Pavel | 1977 | CZE | 27:53.3 | |
| 55 | 47 | 1168 | KARJALAINEN Joni | 1987 | FIN | 27:54.8 | |
| 56 | 52 | 1439 | FLETCHER Taylor | 1990 | USA | 27:56.4 | |
| 57 | 65 | 467 | RIESSLE Fabian | 1990 | GER | 28:13.5 | |
| 58 | 67 | 1538 | DENNEY Brett | 1990 | USA | 28:23.8 | |
| 59 | 41 | 1488 | TIIRMAA Karl-August | 1989 | EST | 28:36.2 | |
| 60 | 33 | 981 | CAMEROTA Eric | 1985 | USA | 28:37.2 | |
| 61 | 59 | 1461 | SLOWIOK Pawel | 1992 | POL | 28:49.9 | |
| 62 | 48 | 986 | MATVEEV Dimitry | 1984 | RUS | 29:00.9 | |
| 63 | 50 | 1432 | PLAZNIK Matic | 1990 | SLO | 29:03.0 | |
| 64 | 64 | 164 | SAVILL Wesley | 1989 | CAN | 29:05.6 | |
| 65 | 66 | 1556 | ISAYKIN Denis | 1988 | RUS | 29:20.6 | |
| Disqualified | |||||||
| 33 | 1669 | STORLIEN Gudmund | 1990 | NOR | |||
| Did not start | |||||||
| 58 | 214 | DENIFL Wilhelm | 1980 | AUT | |||
| Did not finish | |||||||
| 43 | 1689 | NABEEV Niyaz | 1989 | RUS | |||
 |
| Schonach Results | 183.3 KB |
| Nordic Combined Standings | 119.3 KB |
About the Author: Emily Cook
