Cross-country skiing: Richard Jouve and Jules Chappaz end the sprint season on a podium
Richard Jouve and Jules Chappaz rounded off their World Cup sprint season perfectly. In a thrilling final, they took third place in the sprint skate team event in Lahti (Finland).
After a super-powerful final straight from Jules Chappaz, they finished on the podium behind the Swiss team – made up of Janik Riebli and Valerio Grond – and behind the untouchable Norwegians Even Northug and Johannes Hoesflot Klæbo. They tell Nordic Magazine.
Richard Jouve: “It’s good to finish on this high note”.
“I had a pretty decent qualifying session. It was still pretty close and I wasn’t feeling my best. Then, in the final, I had a good feeling. It was going pretty well. My first and second stints were pretty good. On my last run, it was a bit chaotic because I was in traffic. I was blocked a lot by guys who were a little slower. It was quite complicated to get back up and overtake.”
“Jules has this ability to never give up”Richard Jouve at Nordic Magazine
“On the last relay, I gave it to Tchoup [Jules Chappaz’s nickname], not far from the group. I knew that if they looked at each other a bit, it could go in. I watched it on the giant screen live. When I saw it fall to fifth place, not very far at all, I said to myself that it could do it. You always have to believe right to the end. And it’s true that Jules has this ability to never give up. In the end, it did the trick. So it was really cool.”
“This podium is good for the team. It’s good to finish on this high note because we’ve been looking for it for a while. We missed out at the Worlds in Trondheim. So it’s true that it’s cool to end a good season like this for the sprint group. “
Jules Chappaz: “The final straight was quite satisfying, I realised that I was coming back very strongly on the American”
“The whole race was pretty crazy. I think we made two really good first laps, staying in good positions. When it came to the second changeover, I think I made a bit of a mistake. I stayed on my skateboard instead of pushing off so that Richard could give me the relay. I break both my sticks. I didn’t realise it straight away. I shout to Richard: “Give me your cane, give me your cane! He gives me his left stick, I attack the bump, I try to push on my two sticks and I realise that my right stick is also broken.”
“I did the first bump with just one stick and a Swiss coach gave me a second stick. I ended up with a stick that was much too big on the right and Richard’s stick a little too small on the left. I told myself I’d have to go round like that. I tried to limit the damage as much as possible.”
“I handed over to Richard, perhaps in tenth or twelfth position, but he was still in contact with me. He put me back not too badly before my final lap, almost in contact with the podium. We had a great stint where we gained three places on the stint. I think we got nine in and six out. It was great. It propelled me to a final lap where I felt really good straight away.”
“It’s really cool to give the whole team a podium in this last sprint race of the year”Jules Chappaz at Nordic Magazine
“It took a while to open up. I found a little door, a mouse hole in the last bend where I managed to overtake the Finn and pick up speed again. The last straight was quite satisfying, I realised that I was coming back very strongly on the American. I thought I was really going to be able to overtake him. I felt that I was making a good comeback.”
“It’s really cool to give the whole team a podium in this last sprint race of the year. I think we both deserved it. We were really disappointed after Trondheim not to have put the ball in the net there. Today we got through it and it was just too good.”
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