Riiber wins PCR in spite of landing troubles

Jumping sensation Jarl Magnus Riiber battled changing conditions on home soil to set a Provisional Competition Round win in Lillehammer. Riiber showed a jump of 97.5 metres but ended up in a deep squat in the landing area, earning him judges’ scores ranging from 16.5 to 14.5 only.

Still his total of 115.3 points was enough to take a win ahead of Germany’s Terence Weber and Norwegian teammate Einar Lurås Oftebro, who jumped 91.5 and 93.5 metres respectively. With their totals of 113.1 and 112.2 points, they would start only nine and twelve seconds after Riiber if the PCR has to be used over the weekend.

In general, the jumping result on Lillehammer’s normal hill was a tight one with the other extraordinary jumper of the field, Mario Seidl, claiming the fourth position. The Austrian showed 97.5 metres as well but in better wind conditions than Riiber. With Espen Andersen on rank five and Espen Bjørnstad on six, the Norwegian team had a total of four athletes among the first six, all starting within 19 seconds of Riiber - a promising setup for team tactics during a race.

Szczepan Kupczak, Vid Vrhovnik, Franz-Josef Rehrl and Yoshito Watabe completed the Top Ten. With time behinds of 40 seconds, both Fabian Rießle and Vinzenz Geiger would have good starting positions for a race as well. Young Russian Alexander Pashaev showed a good performance as well with a jump of 90.5 metres and the 12th intermediate rank. Johannes Rydzek and Eric Frenzel were not far off either with starting times of +0:44 and +0:45. In total, 26 athletes would start within one minute of the leader if the PCR would be used due to adverse weather conditions this weekend.

The PCR did not include a qualification today as per the Lillehammer Tour rules, all present 63 athletes are allowed to start in the Ind. Gundersen 5 km event tomorrow.

PCR Results