Simply the best: Seidl takes day and overall 2018
Oct 04, 2018·Nordic Combined
Austrian Mario Seidl was unbeatable on the hill, on the track and in the overall of the Summer Grand Prix 2018. After seven events in three countries, Seidl won with 465 points. Ilkka Herola finished on position two with 323 and Martin Fritz returned to the overall podium on rank three with 256 points.
Seidl finished the final event with another start - finish victory and an advantage of 8.5 seconds on Norwegian Espen Bjørnstad. Aguri Shimizu (JPN) battled to the third place and finished 9.2 seconds after Seidl. For both Bjørnstad and Shimizu, this result is their first podium on the highest level of Nordic Combined.
Today, Seidl delighted the audience with another jump to 141 metres and ended up leading the race with 20 seconds advantage on runner-up Espen Bjørnstad from Norway. He jumped 137 metres (122.9 p.). Third in the start grid was Shimizu after a 133.5 metre jump. 120.2 points meant 30 seconds to make up on the track on leader Seidl for him.
Three hot favourites for a podium results followed on ranks four to six. Francois Braud held 115.4 points after a 133.5 metre jump and contended with a disadvantage of 50 seconds, Jan Schmid started one minute and 22 seconds after Seidl and Ilkka Herola had one minute and 23 seconds of delay at the start line and a uphill battle to fight to still challenge Seidl for the top spot in the Summer Grand Prix overall standings.
While Mario Seidl showed another dominant start - finish victory, this time in sunshine and 20 degree-weather, Espen Bjørnstad fought tooth and nail for his first podium, even inching closer to Seidl along the way and successfully keeping World Championship medallist Francois Braud and Aguri Shimizu off his back. While Braud ran out of steam on the last metres of the race, Shimizu impressed with his perseverance and was rewarded with his career-first third rank.
Braud finished on the unlucky fourth rank, Ilkka Herola as fifth, Martin Fritz sixth. Espen Andersen, Laurent Muhlethaler, Jan Schmid and David Pommer completed the Top Ten and local hero Vid Vrhovnik shone with position eleven.
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