Swiss Team Dominate the Podium in Samoens, France

The second stop of this years World Cup circuit was in Samoens, France. For three days the Grand Massif at 1600 meters offered it´s slopes for the Telemark World Cup. With two classic races and one sprint race these were some challenging days for the athletes. Not only were the races difficult, but the weather provided some extra challenges.

The weather conditions on the first race, 29th of January, were quite challenging due to heavy snowfall and bad visibility. After heavy deliberation and some amazing work by course crew, the decision was made and the race was on! Bringing her focus on beating Switzerland’s Amelie Wenger-Reymond, Germany’s Johanna Holzmann landed in first place by 0.24 seconds in front of Wenger-Reymond. The happened to be the first classic victory for Holzmann. Switzerland´s Beatrice Zimmermann took bronze.

Official Results Women´s Classic 29th January 2020

The men´s classic race ended with a big surprise. The podium seemed already settled after the top seed, with Switzerland´s Stefan Matter in first place, Slovenia´s Jure Ales in second and France´s Matti Lopez in third place. However, Switzerland’s Romain Beney, starting with bib number 24, made the surprise of the day, racing to third place and his first ever World Cup podium.

Official Results Men´s Classic 29th January 2020

Another classic race was held on the second day in Samoens. On the women´s side it was once again Switzerland´s Amelie Wenger-Reymond who took the lead by nearly six seconds ahead of silver medal winner Jasmin Taylor from Great Britain. In third place it was again Switzerland´s Beatrice Zimmermann. She did have the second fastest ski time but ended up on taking the bronze medal due to a 3 second jump penalty which put her in third position.

Official Results Women´s Classic 30th January 2020

On the men´s side it happened to be again an all Swiss podium. Day one victor Stefan Matter took the win again on the second day followed by his teammates Nicolas Michel and Bastien Dayer.

Official Results Men´s Classic 30th January 2020

The World Cup in Samoens ended with a sprint event on Friday. In the first run it was once more Amelie Wenger-Reymond who took the lead followed by her closest competitor Johann Holzmann and France´s Argeline Tan Bouquet. Holzmann was able to beat Wenger-Reymond by over one second in the second run, but it was not enough to take the win from the speedy Swiss woman. Following Holzmann in bronze medal position was local hero Angeline Tan Bouquet.

Official Results Women´s Sprint 31st January 2020

On men´s side after the first run of the sprint race it was Switzerland´s Nicolas Michel taking the lead followed by teammate Stefan Matter in second and Slovenia´s Jure Ales on third place. In the second run Matter, who already won the last two days races took over the lead by over 4 seconds. Right behind Matter was again teammate Nicolas Michel taking the silver medal. Frenchman Elie Nabot threw down a great run and landed on third position by only 0,02 seconds behind Michel.

Official Results Men´s Sprint 31st January 2020

After these exciting three days of racing in Samoens, France the World Cup Circuit will move on to Rjukan, Norway next week. Make sure to follow the races from the 6th to the 8th on February.