Tan-Bouquet, Wenger-Reymond and Nygaard Løken win in La Thuile
Jan 22, 2019·Telemark
This weekend saw the 2018/19 FIS Telemark World Cup season kick off in La Thuile, Italy with Sprint and Classic races as athlete’s took to the famously steep ‘Number 3 - Franco Berthod’ piste, one of the most technical courses on the World Cup circuit.
On Sunday it was the Sprint that got the season underway in what was an exciting race as Norway’s Guro Helde Kjølseth, the returning Swiss athlete Amélie Wenger-Reymond and France’s Argeline Tan-Bouquet battled it out to take the first podium of the 2018/19 season. It was a closely fought contest as the podium positions were settled by just over a second. Tan-Bouquet took the victory for France claiming her fifth World Cup win. The Swiss veteran Wenger-Reymond marked her return following the birth of her daughter last March, taking second place and Kjølseth skied into bronze medal position.
In the men’s Sprint it went all the way to wire to decide the winner. After the first run it was Frenchman Phillipe Lau in top spot with a healthy lead over his competitors ahead of the second run. Lau would end up being thankful of his advantage as the two-time World Champion had difficulties on the jump and the 360, dropping down into third position just three seconds behind the race winner from Norway, Trym Nygaard Løken, with Nicolas Michel from Switzerland finishing in second.
On Monday the athlete’s competed in the Classic – the longest of the FIS Telemark disciplines.
Again, it was the ladies who started with Germany’s Kathrin Reischmann in bib number one. The 2017 Junior World Champion finished in eighth position still looking for her first podium on the World Cup. After the first 14 runners, Wenger-Reymond improved on her second place in the Sprint the previous day to take the win for Switzerland. Great Britain’s Jasmin Taylor finished second, taking her first podium of the season just ahead of Tan-Bouquet, finishing 0.03 seconds ahead of Switzerland’s Beatrice Zimmermann in fourth place.
In the men’s Classic Løken completed his first World Cup clean sweep as the Norwegian took both golds on offer in La Thuile. Løken was the fastest man in the field on the skating section at the bottom of the course, which saw him secure the win by nearly three seconds. The two remaining spots went to Switzerland with Stefan Matter taking the silver and breathing down his neck less than a second behind was Nicolas Michel in third.
FIS Telemark Commentator Jack Harvard Taylor had this to say about the opening FIS Telemark World Cup weekend:
The next race of the FIS Telemark World Cup circuit will be Pralognan-la-Vanoise, France, from the 25th January – 26th January.
Quick Links:
