Jarl RIIBER

Jarl Riiber's ascent to the elite level of the Nordic Combined sports sounds a bit like a fairy tale and had the trajectory and speed of a shooting star at the same time. The Norwegian needed only a couple of month to make the development from an athlete starting on the national level only to his first World Cup podium in Seefeld in 2015 at age 17.

Since then, his career has been characterised by extremes: extreme success stories and extremely unlucky moments like his big crash with Johannes Rydzek in the Team Spring Lahti in 2015 or Riiber leading all the way into the stadium at the same place one year later only to take a wrong way and ending up as disqualified. Still, the then 18-year-old impressed with a jumping shape that is on a completely different level than most of his competitors and developed into a strong enough cross-country skier to defend his lead on the track. He celebrated his first World Cup victory at his home venue of Holmenkollen in early 2016.

Still being eligible to start at the Junior World Championships, Riiber collected his frist Junior title with a victory in both the 5 and 10 km event in Almaty in Kazakhstan in 2015 but could not follow up in the next year due to a shoulder injury happening right before the championships in Rasnov, Romania.