Jarl Magnus Riiber: 14 victories to the crystal globe

Season dominator Jarl Magnus Riiber also did not disappoint in the last event of the winter 2019/20 in Oslo (NOR) and increased his season victory count to a new record of 14 wins. With his 27 victories, he now stepped up to the fourth place in the best-ever list and overtook Bjarte Engen Vik as the Norwegian athlete with the most World Cup victories.

In today’s race, Riiber demonstrated once more that he is unbeatable if he has a decent head start after the jumping part and finished his usual lonely race 54.1 seconds ahead of Germany’s Fabian Rießle. Ilkka Herola (FIN) lost out to a finish line sprint against Rießle but also returned to the podium as third and finished +54.8 seconds after Riiber.

In the ski jumping round, Riiber showed his class once more and jumped to 135.5. metres and 145.3 points to take a clear lead of +0:41 seconds on runner-up, Ryota Yamamoto. The Japanese had been in the leaderboard for a good while after jumping to 134.5 metres (135 p.). Simen Tiller claimed a surprise third place with 133 metres and 129.5 metres and started his race one minute and three seconds after his teammate.

Japan’s Akito Watabe proved once again that he likes Holmenkollbakken with a jump of 131 metres. 128.4 points meant the fourth place and a delay of one minute and eight seconds for the four-time Oslo winner. Herola surprised with a great jump of 133.5 metres and started his pursuit of the podium and Jarl Magnus Riiber from position five with a delay of one minute and 10 seconds. Fellow fast skier Rießle was also in striking distance with a start disadvantage of one minute and 18 seconds and start position eight.

While Jarl Magnus Riiber rounded the course four times in his usual impeccable speed and race timing, the fight for the podium was a six-man affair for a good stretch of the race. Ilkka Herola, Fabian Rießle, Akito Watabe, Jens Lurås Oftebro, Terence Weber and Jens Lurås Oftebro skied together for the first 5 km, while a second pursuing group including Jørgen Graabak, Eric Frenzel and Manuel Faißt, to name a few of the fast-moving actors, inched closer and closer.

Shortly into the third lap, Oftebro, Yamamoto and Weber were not able to match Herola, Rießle and Watabe’s speed anymore and dropped back. Akito Watabe held on until the fourth lap but by 8.3 km, he had also lost contact to Herola and Rießle, who then proceeded to sprint for ranks two and three. Watabe had to defend his fourth position against a fast-approaching Jørgen Graabak and managed this, similarly to his Lahti victory, by two seconds in the end.

Graabak proceeded to claimed rank five, Eric Frenzel was sixth, Faißt was seventh, Andersen eighth, Ryota Yamamoto matched his career-best result of ninth and Lukas Greiderer ended the season on position ten.

Final Results
Ski Jumping Results

In the end, Riiber won the overall World Cup 2019/20 and his second crystal globe with 1586 points. Jørgen Graabak NOR) claimed rank two with 1106 points and Vinzenz Geiger(GER) was third with 917 points. Norway won the Nations Cup with 5660 points, ahead of Germany (3826) and Austria (2517).

In a record-breaking season, Jarl Magnus Riiber was the top earner with 146.800 CHF of prize money, Jørgen Graabak earned 89.800 and Vinzenz Geiger had 66.950 CHF in his account.

Riiber also won the Best Jumper Trophy with 12 jumping victories and a total of 1480 points. Number two was Jens Lurås Oftebro (1052) and Espen Bjørnstad completed a podium sweep for the Norwegian team with 889 points on rank three.

The Best Skier Trophy went to Ilkka Herola with 1017 points, Alessandro Pittin (ITA) was second (939) and Eric Frenzel third (925 p.)

Overall Standings
Nations Cup Standings
Prize Money Standings
Best Jumper Trophy
Best Skier Trophy