He finally holds it. Richard Jouve, 27, won the first World Cup victory of his career on Thursday, in the classic sprint in Drammen (Norway). In the lead after the morning qualifications, the founder of Montgenèvre is ahead of the Chinese Qiang Wang, and his teammate Lucas Chanavat.
“Finally a victory, I’ve been waiting for it for a long time,” says the Habs, 7th individually at the last Games, to AFP. I was told a lot that I was the only one to make a lot of podiums without winning, at least that ticks a box. Having a victory makes me want to keep winning, I hope to continue this momentum. “Since his debut on the international scene, this is the 13th podium for the bronze medalist in the 4X10 km relay with the French team in Beijing.
The Drammen race also suffered from many absences, starting with that of the Russian team, and also those of the seven best Norwegians, contaminated by Covid, including the unbeatable Johannes Klaebo. Richard Jouve took the opportunity to come back to 95 points behind the leader in the sprint classification (the victory is worth 100 points). There remains a race in the specialty in Sweden next week and possibly a second if the finals canceled because planned in Russia end up being rescheduled.
“The victory does not erase the disappointment of Beijing, it was the big goal and it remains painful,” added Jouve. This is the first French victory in the cross-country skiing World Cup since January 2020, when Renaud Jay and Lucas Chanavat dominated the team sprint in Dresden (Germany). Richard Jouve becomes only the 7th tricolor to win an individual event on the world circuit.
