Josephine Pagnier won Thursday’s FIS Cup competition an the middle hill HS72 in Gerardmer, France. The host athlete triumphed with jumps of 69 m and 71.5 m. Julia Clair was second and Yuka Seto finished third.
Julia Clair was in the lead after the first round. The French athlete soared 69 meters and was 2.5 points ahead of her teammate, Josephine Pagnier (69 m). The third place was taken by Yuka Seto (69 m), 3.5 points behind the leader.
Nina Lussi and Lexane Durand Poudret (64 m each) were tied on fourth place. Sixth was Annika Belshaw (63.5 m).
In the final, Josephine Pagnier showed herself from the best side. The host athlete reached 71.5 meters and jumped to the highest step of the podium, defeating the halfway leader Julia Clair (67.5 m) by 7.6 points. Yuka Seto (68.5 m) finished third.
American Nina Lussi (67 m) finished fourth, 15.1 points behind the podium. Lexane Durand Poudret (63.5 m) was fifth and Annika Belshaw (62 m) was sixth.
Bing Dong (245 points) stayed at the position of FIS Cup overall standings leader, ahead of Birun Shao (205 points) and Mariia Iakovleva (200 points).
The second competition is Gerardmer is scheduled for Friday, 11:00 CET.