Back to World Cup business with the Lahti Ski Games
Lahti Impressions 2012/13 - FIS/Silke Tegethof
After the Olympics is before the Lahti Ski Games and now it is back to World Cup business for all Olympic athletes and also some of those who had to stay home in the past three weeks.
For gold medallist Eric Frenzel it will be all about taking home his second consecutive overall World Cup win in the final four venues in Scandinavia (Lahti, Trondheim, Oslo and Falun) and as he is in the lead with 853 points over his closest pursuer, Japan's Akito Watabe (501 points), the question probably is not if the German is taking the crystal globe, but when.
The fight for the other two overall podium positions is still on, as there is only a one-hundred-point difference between Watabe and Magnus Moan on rank seven. With five individual events and one Team Sprint to go, the chances are definitely there for Klemetsen, Lamy Chappuis, Rydzek, Kokslien and Moan.
In Lahti, where ski jumpers, cross-country skiers and Nordic Combined athletes meet again shortly after the Olympics, one Individual Gundersen competition and one Team Sprint are on schedule on Friday and Saturday and it looks like they will be held in wintry conditions again compared to the warmer climate in Sochi. The whole 5-kilometre course in including the stadium is covered in artificial snow and the FIS snow control does not foresee any difficulties in holding the competitions. With many of the Olympic medallists including double gold medallist Jørgen Graabak confirmed to start in Lahti, the weekend promises a special atmosphere with a lot of spectators, as befitting the heroes of Sochi.
