December 14, 2013 (Davos, Switzerland) – Maurice Manificat took no prisoners on his way to victory for France today in fast snow conditions as won the men’s 30km FR interval start race in Davos at round #3 of the FIS XC World Cup. Claiming his first World Cup podium was Norway’s Chris Andre Jespersen with superb skiing to finish only 3.3s behind Manificat.

Jespersen’s teammate and World Cup leader, Martin Johnsrud Sundby, settled for third despite a stellar first half that saw him leading at the halfway point but he could not sustain the pace as Manificat proved to be the strongest man today. Sundby continues to lead overall.

“It was a tough race. I was thinking of two years ago when I did not push hard enough towards the end and lost victory in the last lap. Today, tried to save some energy to the last 7.5 km and I was afraid to open too hard. I tried to ski fast in the flat sections. It feels great to win today,” Manificat told FIS XC.

The USA’s Noah Hoffman placed 25th in the points, and was modestly happy with his day, claiming a tough course and good but not great energy affected his performance.

“The race today was tough… 30km individual is not an easy discipline, although I like it, and I wish we got to do more of them. My energy was pretty good, but not great today. I think also I am ready for a little bit of training, so I’m glad I have the opportunity between now and the start of the Tour de Ski.

“I had some good groups to ski with out there, but I ended up leading the train more often than not. Magnificat started two minutes behind me. He and Vylegzhanin almost caught me, but never made contact to help me. The course here in Davos is challenging, as it is very gradual, but I do believe I can be good here one day. I’m happy to be in the points, and looking forward to the Tour de Ski,” the Hoff told Trax post race.

Canada’s Ivan Babikov, who generally excels at this event, placing as high as 6th in the past was a disappointing 47th and didn’t have the legs or the energy despite planning for this race in the lead up to the Tour de Ski.

“It wasn’t a good day for me. Right off the start I was losing a lot of time, body just didn’t feel good, didn’t have any power and didn’t feel like I was skiing smooth enough,” admitted Babikov. “Of course I hoped for a better result as the 30km individual is one of my favourite races. But it’s over now and I need to focus on the upcoming Tour de Ski.”

Canadian Head Coach Justin Wadworth was also disappointed and quick to take the blame for his star distance skier’s lacklustre day. “We underestimated his form and didn’t train him well during this week. Looking back I see what we needed to do as Ivan came into the race today flat,” said Wadworth in a phone interview.

“I told Ivan I was sorry that we didn’t prepare him better during the final week as we knew this was a race where he can shine and it was on our radar. He’s in good shape and I know he would have had a better performance today if we’d worked his training better this week,” added Wadworth.

As for Alex Harvey, Devon Kershaw and Len Valjas not racing today Wadsworth said the statistics show that if you contest the 30km you can pretty well count on not qualifying in the sprint. “There can be exceptions to this but we feel we have more opportunity to earn points and/or podiums in the sprints so we made a choice this weekend and will see how things play out tomorrow,” he added.

As for Valjas’ knee the prognosis could be better – while he’s improving there’s still a ways to go before he’ll be comfortable at every start line. “We’re keeping a close eye on him. It may never be pain free but we need to ensure that he keeps moving in the right direction and do our best to avoid any set backs.” Otherwise all team members are healthy and ready to be in the hunt on Sunday.

Full results here.