Taylor, Wenger-Reymond, Lau and Matter win in Pralognan La Vanoise (FRA)
Feb 07, 2019·Telemark
The FIS Telemark World Cup continued this week as the tour moved to Pralognan-La-Vanoise (PLV) in the French Alps as both the classic and sprint medals were up for grabs.
It was the sprint discipline that got the racing started in PLV on Friday. Like the previous round in La Thuile we were treated to a close competitive finish providing a great spectacle for the fans out watching on the slopes. Jasmin Taylor of Great Britain claimed her first race win of the 2018/19 season just ahead of Swiss athlete Amelie Wenger-Raymond who was only 79 seconds behind in the silver medal position. Swiss teammate Beatrice Zimmermann improved on her results from La Thuile by moving on up on to the podium finishing third.
Much like in the women's race the men also gave the fans in PLV lots to be excited and cheer for and they had good reason to be in a celebratory party mode, as home favourite Phillippe Lau put last week's disappointment behind him as he took the gold medal on home snow. Making him work right to the end was Bastien Dayer of Switzerland as he finished second only 22 seconds behind Lau. Slovenian Jure Ales got his 2018/19 podium tally off and running as he finished in third position. Double race winner in La Thuile Nygaard Trym Loeken from Norway finished down in fifth after picking up some penalties.
On Saturday it was time for the longer of the two discipline’s the classic to be centre stage. Again, the women got the action underway in PLV.
It would be another successful day for the Switzerland team in the French Alps as they won both gold and silver medals. Wenger-Reymond again improved on her second place in the sprint to move up to take the gold. Wenger-Reymond has now won both the classic races this season. Her Swiss teammate Zimmermann would also improve from her bronze the day before by hopping up into second position. German athlete Johanna Holzmann would take the final spot on the podium to get her first medal of the season.
To finish off the racing in PLV the men made sure no fan would leave disappointed, as all three men who finished in the medals all crossed the line separated by just over second of each other. Home favourite Lau was pushing for another win chasing down the time set by Swiss athlete Stefan Matter to give the French fans something to cheer for, but an error heading into the 360 cost him a medal and Lau would finish the race in eighth. Loeken was looking to get back to winning ways, the Norwegian was fastest on the higher skate section, Loeken had four seconds to make up on the last part of the course after running wide on a gate. The World Cup leader almost made the remarkable comeback, but he finished .33 seconds slower than Matter giver Loeken the silver. Third place went to bib number one another Swiss athlete Dayer who rounded off a magnificent weekend of racing for the Swiss Telemark team.
FIS Telemark World Cup action isn’t away for long as the athlete’s head to Pra Loup France in search of more medals. This will see the debut of the parallel sprint discipline for the 2018/19 season. The races will take place between 29th January – 1st February.
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