COC-M: Jakob Lange remains unbeatable in Nizhny Tagil
Mar 12, 2020·Nordic Combined
COC overall leader Jakob Lange (GER) ended his season in style and claimed his eighth Continental Cup win this winter in the final event in Nizhny Tagil (RUS). Due to warm weather and problems with the inrun track of the jumping hill, the ski jumping rounds had to be cancelled in the morning. With the Provisional Competition Round in use, the competition format had to be changed to a 10 km Individual Gundersen event.
Lange was starting from the fourth place with a delay of 44 seconds on PCR winner Simen Tiller (NOR) but had closed the gap to the leaders already on the second lap and then proceeded to extend his lead to a clear win with an advantage of one minute and 20 seconds at the finish line.
Second-placed Lars Ivar Skaarset closed the gap to his teammate Tiller and stayed together with him until the finish. The duo was joined by a fast-approaching Martin Hahn, who caught up with the two on the long uphill in the last lap but did not have enough in the tank to challenge the two Norwegians for the podium positions in the end.
Skaarset claimed the second place, which gave him the third place in the 2019/20 overall standings, Tiller finished two seconds later to take third. Martin Hahn had to be satisfied with the fourth place, Paul Gerstgtaser was fifth, Justin Moczarski and Samuel Mraz had Top Ten results again with positions six and seven. Aleksander Skoglund, Lars Buraas and Kasper Moen Flatla were a Norwegian trio on positions eight, nine and ten.
In the overall standings, Lange claimed the title 2019/20 with 1148 points. He had a clear advantage on Paul Gerstgraser (AUT), who was second with 700 points and Lars Ivar Skaarset stormed to the third place with 692 points.
In the Nations Cup, Norway won with 4333 points ahead of Germany (2768) and Austria (2536).
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