COCM: Antoine Gerard sets first international victory

Klingenthal proved to be a good place for France’s Antoine Gerard, who continues a streak of good results with his first international victory in a star-studded Continental Cup today.

Gerard crossed the finish line of the 5 km race 7.1 seconds ahead of jumping winner Sindre Ure Søtvik from Norway. Maxime Laheurte was third, finishing 9.8 seconds later than his teammate.

Søtvik showed his jumping prowess with a jump of 133 metres and took an advantage of 4 seconds on teammate Harald Johnas Riiber on the cross-country track. Estonia’s Kristjan Ilves was third with 123.5 metres and 20 seconds to make up.

Antoine Gerard started with a disadvantage of 38 seconds but even on the short 5 km distance, it was not enough to keep Søtvik in the lead until the end. The third-fastest time of 11:22.2 catapulted Gerard to the victory, while teammate Maxime Laheurte set the fastest time and worked his way up to the podium from position nine. Franz-Josef Rehrl from Austria ranked fourth (+10.5), Kristjan Ilves fell back to the fifth position.

The Top Ten were completed by Harald Riiber, Espen Bjørnstad, Francois Braud, Ernest Yahin and Marjan Jelenko. Best German was youngster Luis Lehnert, who impressed with his jumping performances in Ramsau am Dachstein. He ended up on the eleventh position.