Eric Frenzel crowns himself Emperor of Seefeld
Feb 22, 2019·Nordic Combined
Eric Frenzel (GER) crowned himself Emperor of Seefeld by winning the gold medal in a phenomenal competition in Innsbruck and Seefeld. In the end, Frenzel won the race by 4.3 seconds ahead of Jan Schmid (NOR). Local hero Franz-Josef Rehrl won the bronze medal and crossed the finish line 8.7 seconds after Frenzel.
Frenzel impressed with a surprising return to old jumping strength. The German superstar jumped 130.5 metres, his first jump over the K point at Bergisel and the longest jump of the day. 138.5 points had him take the pole position for the race, a development that did not only surprise fans on location but also Frenzel himself. Mario Seidl, who had ruled the trial round with 136 metres had a decent but not brilliant jump of 125.5 metres (137.2 p.) that had him take the second place in the start grid. Only five seconds separated the Austrian from leader Frenzel.
Jan Schmid, who had to sit out the Lahti weekend due to sickness, was back with a vengeance and took the third place with 129 metres (136.1 p.). He and Franz-Josef Rehrl (126 m, 135.9 p.) followed only five seconds after Seidl. Akito Watabe and Fabian Rießle were an interesting constellation on ranks five and six, starting 38 and 39 seconds after Frenzel and Antoine Gerard, Jarl Magnus Riiber, Johannes Rydzek and Vinzenz Geiger were set up to form a fast foursome starting between +0:58 and +1:22 after the leader.
As expected, the leading group consisted of four athletes, namely Frenzel, Schmid, Seidl and Rehrl, who stayed together until the very end of the race. Interchanging in the lead, the group managed to keep all pursuers off their backs for the entire duration of the race. Jan Schmid tried to set an attack on the last uphill to reduce the number of medal candidates and was successful in shaking Mario Seidl out of the medal positions. He himself was no match against Eric Frenzel, who took the lead decisively, cruised into the stadium, down the final stretch and across the finish line, celebrating the end of a tough period for the 30-year-old. Jan Schmid repeated his 2009 silver medal from Liberec and Franz-Josef Rehrl won his first medal at a title event with bronze.
Even though Fabian Rießle and Akito Watabe were on the hunt for the leaders and closed the gap to 22 seconds after the first lap, they were caught by Antoine Gerard and Jarl Magnus Riiber at the halfway point of the race. By the 7.5 km point, the group had grown to include Johannes Rydzek as well and the distance to the top group was down to 16 seconds but as the fight for the medals broke out in front, the pursuers were not able to make up more ground on the last lap.
In the end, Mario Seidl was the unlucky fourth and Jarl Magnus Riiber maximised his exploits of the day with the fifth position. Akito Watabe was sixth, Fabian Rießle seventh, Antoine Gerard on a strong eighth position, Johannes Rydzek ninth and local hero Berni Gruber stormed to rank 10 with the fastest cross-country time.
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