Austrian wins 20th World Cup
nordic combined title
SEEFELD, Austria (AP) - Felix Gottwald of Austria
won his 20th career World Cup title Saturday at
a nordic combined sprint.
The 31-year-old Olympic champion, ranked fifth after
the ski jumping discipline, won in 21 minutes 3.2
seconds.
France's Jason Lamy Chappuis finished second, trailing
Gottwald by 22.6 seconds.
Magnus Moan of Norway was third, 34.2 behind.
"I controlled the race well," Gottwald
said. "It was important that I had a good jump
this morning, which put me in the driving seat for
the sprint. Anyway, after six victories here by
Hannu (Manninen) it is great that finally an Austrian
wins in Seefeld."
Mario Stecher of Austria won the first leg of the
event by jumping 86.0 metres, but dropped to fifth
place after finishing 28th in the 7.5-kilometre
cross-country sprint.
Moan was only 25th after the ski jumping, but winning
the sprint discipline earned him the third spot.
Bill Demong of the United States finished sixth
overall. He was 26th after the ski jumping and fifth
in the sprint race, 55.5 seconds behind Gottwald.
Austria's Christoph Bieler, finishing eighth, stayed
ahead in the World Cup Standing with 528 points.
Finland's Manninen trails him by 23, Moan is third
with 488.
