The four French finished at the foot of the podium. JOE KLAMAR / AFP
Matteo Baud, Antoine Gérard, Laurent Muhlethaler and Marco Heinis finished in 4th place at the World Nordic Skiing Championships this Wednesday in Slovenia.
The French Nordic combined team led by Matteo Baud, Antoine Gérard, Laurent Muhlethaler and Marco Heinis, took fourth place at the 2023 Nordic Ski Worlds on Wednesday in Planica (Slovenia), behind Norway, Germany and Austria.
The French, fourth after the jumping event on the large hill of Planica, started about forty seconds from the lead, and came back into contact with Germany and Norway, under the impetus of the Austria, after the first three stints. Still in the race for the podium and the title itself, in the penultimate of the eight rounds of cross-country skiing, the French cracked on the last stint. Young Marco Heinis (19) struggled to keep up with the very high pace of Austrian Johannes Lamparter, German Julian Schmid and Norwegian Jarl-Magnus Riiber.
Heinis crossed the finish line about thirty seconds behind Riiber, who, with Norway, won a second world title in Planica after the gold in the individual event on the normal hill on Saturday. Riiber was faster in the sprint than Schmid, while Lamparter settled for bronze. This fourth place is the best result for the French Nordic combined team at the Worlds since the bronze medal in 2015, for Jason Lamy Chappuis’ last appearance at the World Championships. The final individual Nordic combined event is scheduled for Saturday with a large hill jump in the morning and a 10km cross-country race in the afternoon.