Paris (AFP)
The Blues of the Nordic combined have remained far from the leading roles from Friday to Sunday on the stage of Val di Fiemme, a recurring observation since the end of the golden generation Jason Lamy-Chapuis / François Braud several years ago.
The youngest Gaël Blondeau (20 years old, 31st) and Mattéo Baud (18 years old, 35th) showed up on Friday without succeeding in scoring points.
The two more experienced combiners of the France team Laurent Muhlethaler and Antoine Gérard made up for it on Sunday by entering the top 30, finishing 24th and 25th respectively.
Muhlethaler notably finished 2nd in the jump, before suffering in cross-country skiing.
The team event on Saturday did not smile for the Blues either, with a 13th place for Antoine Gérard and Mattéo Baud.
After two losses against the German Vinzenz Geiger, the two-time holder of the Norwegian globe title Jarl Magnus Riiber was delighted with two individual victories and largely leads the general classification.
No French were entered this weekend for the Men's Ski Jumping World Cup in Zakopane (Poland).
Austria won in the team event on Saturday and Norway's Marius Lindvik in the individual on Sunday.
His compatriot Halvor Egner Granerud still largely leads the general classification.
Many stages of Olympic disciplines scheduled for this weekend had been canceled due to Covid-19 (skiing and snowboardcross in Austria, slopestyle skiing and snowboarding in Italy, women's ski jumping in Japan).
© 2021 AFP