The Grand Prix goes to Ema Volavsek, as does the final race in France; Dejori fourth again. German celebration among the men

The Grand Prix, held over little more than a week with stops in Bischofshofen, Oberstdorf and Chaux-Neuve, concluded in France with the Individual Compact, following the Gundersen events held 24 hours earlier.

Among the women, it was entirely Ema Volavsek’s celebration: the Slovenian, who had already managed to beat Ida Marie Hagen in a race (the latter was absent from the final event despite leading the overall standings), claimed her second win of the season and the final standings of the summer circuit, having started level on points with Katharina Gruber.

The Austrian, yesterday’s winner, led after the ski jumping but, in this format, had only a 6” advantage over Volavsek, who had no trouble making the difference immediately over the 5 km roller-ski course, winning alone by 26”5 over Nathalie Armbruster, forced to settle for second place as in the first French race, and 41”5 over Gruber, who held on for 6” ahead of Daniela Dejori’s charging comeback. Dejori finished fourth, as in race 1, ahead of fellow Slovenian Likozar Brankovic, Poland’s Kil and Austria’s Purker, while Italy also placed Greta Pinzani eighth (1’12” behind the winner) and Giada Delugan 10th, securing another three top-ten finishes.

The men’s Grand Prix, which had been dominated by Jens Luraas Oftebro and Stefan Rettenegger, who withdrew from the Chaux-Neuve races, ultimately went to Manuel Faisst after a thrilling finish: leading after the ski-jumping round as 24 hours earlier, Richard Stenzel had to give way to his teammate over the 7.5 km second segment, with Stenzel finishing 3” behind, while David Mach, alongside his compatriots for two-thirds of the race, finished third at 16”, losing the overall trophy to Faisst by just one point.

Austrian Obermeyr was fourth, but a comeback like the one in the first event was not enough, followed by Slovenian Vrhovnik, while Italy secured another strong result with Iacopo Bortolas, eighth after yesterday’s seventh place, and Domenico Mariotti finishing 20th.