German teammates Bjorn Kircheisen and Eric Frenzel took the first two spots on the FIS World Cup nordic combined podium today (March 11) in Lahti, Finland while France’s Olympic and World Champion Jason Lamy Chappuis finished third to assure himself the World Cup title. Olympic Champion Billy Demong led the U.S. in 29th.

Norway’s Haavard Klemetsen led the ski jumping portion in Lahti, with a 127.5 meter, 130.3-point jump. In second was Wilhelm Denifl (AUT/126.0 m/129.5 points) with Kaarel Nurmsalu (EST/130.5 m/129.2 points) in third. Lamy Chappuis jumped to fourth place, just 20 seconds behind Klemetsen with the winner, Kircheisen in 12th position, a full 62 seconds back.
 
As the Cross-Country race developed, Lamy Chappuis quickly closed the gap between himself and the three leaders: Klemetsen, Denifl and Nurmsalu. The second lap saw the Frenchman break away with Denifl, securing only a narrow 7.5-second lead ahead of Kircheisen, Frenzel and others. In lap three the gap was once again narrowed, leaving a five-man group ahead to lead the race into the final lap, and in the fourth, Kircheisen sprinted ahead for the victory.

“I did not start that fast because of the slow track,” said Kircheisen, “but attacked at the right moment during the last lap. I’m happy about my fourth World Cup victory here in Lahti.”

At the finish line, Kircheisen had an advantage of 5.4 seconds on Frenzel and 13.2 seconds on Lamy Chappuis.

Wilhelm Denifl finished in fourth and equaled his best World Cup results. Mikko Kokslien (NOR) improved from 20th rank to final eight and Felix Gottwald (AUT) delivered the fastest Cross-Country time in 23:57.0 minutes.

This victory marked Kircheisen’s 15th World Cup win of 165 appearances and with two Germans on top, displayed strength and a repeat of last week’s World Championship success for the team. “It is nice to see that it becomes some kind of habit having always two Germans on the podium,” said Frenzel.

Continuing to struggle with the jumping portion of the nordic combined, Demong sat in 36th heading into the cross country race, two minutes forty seconds back. Needing to make up a lot of ground in the 10k, Demong had trouble finding his stride posting the 18th fastest time to place 29th. Bryan Fletcher (Steamboat Springs, CO) finished just outside the points in 33rd.  World Champions Todd Lodwick and Johnny Spillane (Steamboat Springs, CO) returned home after World Championships.

This World Cup in Lahti marks the final stop of the tour. Competition continues Saturday with another large hill event to conclude the 2010-11 season.

Place   Lahti (FIN)   Discipline   Gundersen LH HS130/10.0 K Date   11.03.2011   Category   World Cup Race codex   4012   Gender   M     TD Name   Sween Arne-Olaf (NOR)            Rank Bib FIS Code Name Year Nation Result  1  12  257 KIRCHEISEN Bjoern  1983  GER   25:28.6  2  5  1050 FRENZEL Eric  1988  GER   25:34.0  3  4  610 LAMY CHAPPUIS Jason  1986  FRA   25:41.8  4  2  214 DENIFL Wilhelm  1980  AUT   25:53.0  5  1  419 KLEMETSEN Haavard  1979  NOR   25:54.2  6  10  1650 SCHMID Jan  1983  NOR   25:55.7  7  13  1136 WATABE Akito  1988  JPN   26:00.9  8  20  1149 KOKSLIEN Mikko  1985  NOR   26:07.7  9  17  590 RYDZEK Johannes  1991  GER   26:12.5  10  7  1152 RYYNAENEN Janne  1988  FIN   26:17.8  11  11  727 KATO Taihei  1984  JPN   26:33.9  12  35  35 GOTTWALD Felix  1976  AUT   26:36.0  13  14  252 GRUBER Bernhard  1982  AUT   26:39.3  14  8  606 BRAUD Francois  1986  FRA   26:47.6  15  6  1669 STORLIEN Gudmund  1990  NOR   26:50.6  16  21  8 STECHER Mario  1977  AUT   26:52.2  17  26  137 KREINER David  1981  AUT   26:58.9  18  27  1413 KROG Magnus  1987  NOR   27:06.0  19  31  768 MINATO Yusuke  1985  JPN   27:12.1  20  38  205 KOBAYASHI Norihito  1982  JPN   27:14.3  21  15  416 SLAVIK Tomas  1981  CZE   27:21.9  22  9  609 LAHEURTE Maxime  1985  FRA   27:27.5  23  32  19 MANNINEN Hannu  1978  FIN   27:31.0  24  25  347 BEETZ Christian  1984  GER   27:38.3  25  16  1418 BERLOT Gasper  1990  SLO   27:40.5  26  22  1410 BAUER Armin  1990  ITA   27:45.4  27  19  459 LACROIX Sebastien  1983  FRA   27:56.1  28  33  1003 DVORAK Miroslav  1987  CZE   28:04.2  29  36  222 DEMONG Bill  1980  USA   28:05.9  30  39  592 KLAPFER Lukas  1985  AUT   28:06.9  31  24  1168 KARJALAINEN Joni  1987  FIN   28:27.8  32  41  715 ORANIC Mitja  1986  SLO   28:33.4  33  43  1067 FLETCHER Bryan  1986  USA   28:35.8  34  3  1485 NURMSALU Kaarel  1991  EST   28:47.7  35  49  1029 PITTIN Alessandro  1990  ITA   28:52.8  36  28  1296 BOESL Wolfgang  1989  GER   28:57.1  37  29  1434 JELENKO Marjan  1991  SLO   28:58.1  38  45  100002 GRAABAK Joergen  1991  NOR   28:59.8  39  40  349 HURSCHLER Seppi  1983  SUI   29:02.2  40  30  215 CHURAVY Pavel  1977  CZE   29:26.9  41  50  1796 JOHANSEN Truls Soenstehagen  1991  NOR   29:38.8  42  46  1439 FLETCHER Taylor  1990  USA   29:42.5  43  34  623 HUG Tim  1987  SUI   29:47.6  44  48  705 KAEHKOENEN Ville  1984  FIN   29:52.2  45  42  1027 PESELJ Felix  1990  ITA   29:56.1  46  52  1486 PIHO Kail  1991  EST   30:21.8  47  23  1552 JAEAESKELAEINEN Jesse  1990  FIN   30:39.4  48  51  591 KAMMERLANDER Tobias  1986  AUT   30:39.7  49  54  1649 HENDRICKSON Nick  1991  USA   30:41.9  50  18  1689 NABEEV Niyaz  1989  RUS   31:11.6  51  44  1687 LEINONEN Mikke  1992  FIN   31:28.1  52  47  1482 VAEHAESOEYRINKI Eetu  1990  FIN   31:37.3  53  53  100043 PELTOLA Jani  1994  FIN   32:44.3 Did not start    56  1464 RUNGGALDIER Lukas  1987  ITA       55  203 HEER Ronny  1981  SUI       37  1059 REUSCHEL Sebastian  1988  GER       30  216 TAKAHASHI Daito  1980  JPN       24  1192 DRUML Tomaz  1988  AUT