Athlete of the Week: Jørgen Graabak (NOR)

Again, it is hard to ignore World Cup leader Jarl Magnus Riiber’s amazing performances on the past weekend but again, another athlete, coincidentally from Riiber’s own team again, rose to the forefront, not only with his results but also because of the development shown and roles taken in the competitions in the season 2019/20 so far.

With two second places, Norway’s 2014 Olympic Champion Jørgen Graabak cemented his position as the second-best Nordic Combined athlete in the world last weekend. To do so, Graabak did not only excel in the cross-country part, which was his strong suit in the past but also displayed an impressive level of ski jumping, which has not always been part of his repertoire.

With two fifth places in the jumping rounds and a sixth and eighth best cross-country time, Graabak displayed a very even level of performance across both disciplines, a consistency which puts him among the very best Nordic Combined athletes of the moment.

Even more interesting, however, is Graabak’s role in the team dynamics of the Norwegian squad. With the team’s current jumping performances, multiple teammates usually take up positions ahead of him in the ski jumping parts (as crazy as this sounds with Graabak himself being firmly in the jumping Top Ten), the role of skiing a tactical, slower race not to lead other fast skiers up to his jumping prodigy teammates fell to Graabak already in Ruka but also in Lillehammer this weekend.

“I was aiming not to take Jens but in the end, he was too close and we had to take him out”, Graabak said after the first competition in Lillehammer. The way that the 28-year-old Olympic champion and six-time World Cup winner in his own right is willing to put his own performances into the service of the entire team this winter is nothing short of admirable. That Graabak was rewarded with two second places in Lillehammer seems only fitting.

While his development on the hill matches the big strides made inside the entire Norwegian team, Graabak’s inherent ability to plan and read races intelligently, conserve his powers and an impressive sprinting quality towards the finish line make him into a very dangerous player on the cross-country track.

In the last season, Graabak was one of the few athletes, who could wrestle a World Cup victory from Jarl Magnus Riiber and, while his is full of appreciation for Riiber’s performances, he stays calm, relaxed and waits for his chance once his younger teammate makes a mistake. With a smaller hill coming up at the next World Cup stop in Ramsau am Dachstein (AUT), Graabak’s chance to pounce might be near.