COC-L/M: Geraghty-Moats keeps on winning, Gerstgraser steps up
Dec 16, 2018·Nordic Combined
Austria’s Paul Gerstgraser won a sprint to the finish with American Taylor Fletcher to earn his first Continental Cup victory in nearly four years Saturday night in Steamboat Springs. USA Nordic’s Tara Geraghty-Moats took her second straight win.
Japan’s Ryota Yamamoto led after the jump, soaring 71.0 meters - long ride for the morning. Gerstgraser started one minute, seven seconds back with Fletcher one minute, 20 seconds out. A pack quickly formed and charged around the Steamboat Rodeo Grounds course which featured a two kilometer loop with a punishing alpine ski area uphill, a screaming downhill and twists and turns through the spectators. Within a lap, the chase group was charging.
On the final lap, it came down to a pack of over a dozen skiers attached to each other in a peloton. In the final few hundred meters, Gerstgraser and Fletcher broke away, fighting for the finish. On a hard left turn into the final stretch, Fletcher was behind and found himself unable to sprint up for the win. Third went to Norway’s Lars Buraas - a career best finish.
It was another strong night for the Americans. In addition to Fletcher’s second straight podium, Jared Shumate (Park City, Utah) was sixth for another career best. Jasper Good (Steamboat Springs, Colo.) was eighth to match his top career finish. Six Americans finished in the points.
In the ladies' event, Geraghty-Moats found herself fourth after the jump after Norway’s Gyda Westvold Hansen led after the jump. Westvold Hansen set a jump of 69 metres and leas with a head start of 23 seconds over Geraghty-Moats but saw her lead evaporate quickly in the 5 km cross-country event. With Veronica Gianmoena in second (+00:11) and Jenny Nowak in third (+0:16), two more athletes were also not able to match Geraghty-Moats tempo on skis.
In the end, Geraghty-Moats took a 40 second margin over the Norwegian, who finished second overall for the second day in a row. Veronica Gianmoena of Italy was third. Russian Stefaniya Nadymova had to be satisfied with the fourth place today, Ida Marie Hagen was fifth and the rest of the Top Ten spots were taken by Sophia Marus, Tess Arnone, Annamaija Oinas, Annika Malacinski and Bing Dong.
Final Results
Ski Jumping Results
In the Continental Cup overall, Tara Geraghty-Moats leads with 200 points, followed by Gyda Westvold Hansen (160) and Stefaniya Nadymova and Veronica Gianmoena share rank three with 110 points each.
The tour now heads west to Park City, Utah for a pair of events Wednesday and Thursday. Jumps are set for the Utah Olympic Park with cross country at the nearby Jeremy Ranch trails.
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