LEAD: Victories for Lamy Chappuis, Randall and Petukhov

Dec 11, 2011, 15:55 GMT

Ramsau, Austria - American Kikkan Randall and Kazakhstan skier Alexey Petukhov on Sunday won their respective cross-country World Cup sprint races, while Jason Lamy Chappuis triumphed in a nordic combined event.

In the Swiss ski resort of Davos Randall and Petukhov were too strong for their opposition. Randall won in a time of 3 minutes 2.5 seconds, beating Russian Natalia Matveeva by 1.7 seconds.

Norways's Maiken Caspersen Falla was third.

In the men's sprint race Petukhov just edged out Swedes Teodor Peterson (0.3 seconds behind) and Emil Jonsson (0.4 seconds behind).

Earlier, Olympic champion Lamy Chappuis secured his first World Cup season victory.

The victory in the Austrian town of Ramsau saw the Frenchman take over the overall World Cup lead from German Tino Edelmann, who finished fourth on the day after going into the race in first place after the jumping portion.

Lamy Chappuis has 354 points, while Tino Edelmann is four points behind.

Lamy Chappuis finished in 22 minutes 7.4 seconds, to beat Norway's Magnus Krog by just 0.4 seconds, while Austrian Mario Stecher took third place a further 0.2 seconds behind.