Maxime Laheurte has captured the title of French champion in a competition held in Chaux-Neuve on the past weekend. On Saturday afternoon, the ski jumping round was on schedule in which Laheurte already claimed the pole position.

21 seconds separated Laheurte from Jason Lamy Chappuis, for whom the past weekend marked his return to Nordic Combined competition activity. Lahti bronze medallist Francois Braud had 54 seconds to make up on his teammate. After a second round of jumping for the national championship of ski jumpers (in which Maxime Laheurte took the third place and confirmed his great jumping shape), the Nordic Combined athletes battled out their champion on roller-skis. 

But also on wheels, Laheurte proved to be unbeatable that day. The second fastest cross-country time propelled him across the finish line after 27:23 and with one minute and 17 seconds of advantage on youngster Antoine Gerard, who captured the silver position. Fellow young athlete Laurent Muhlethaler also managed to overtake the big names of Braud and Lamy Chappuis and claimed bronze and the U-20 title, +0:18 behind Laheurte.

Francois Braud had to be satisfied with position four, and after his long competition break, Jason Lamy Chappuis is still struggling with his cross-country shape. The tenth-fastest time meant a final position five for the superstar. Once more, Hugo Buffard skied the fastest time of 26:34 but rank 16 after the jumping part was not a good starting position for a top result in the end. Buffard finished sixth.