COC-M/W: Victories for Leinan Lund & Eiksund Saethre
Jan 25, 2020·Nordic Combined
The Norwegian Nordic Combined team seems to be unbeatable at the moment. No matter if it’s FIS World Cup, Men’s Continental Cup or Women’s Continental Cup – the Norwegian team always seems to come out on top.
In the women’s event, it was Marte Leinan Lund, who was able to celebrate her very first Continental Cup victory on home ground in Rena.
With a jump on 102.5 metres (120.1 p.) Leinan Lund put herself in the lead after jumping, 8 seconds ahead of Stefaniya Nadymova (103 metres, 118.0 p.) and 10 seconds ahead of Alexandra Glazunova (101.5 metres, 117.5 p.). With a total number of 15 competitors within 2 minutes, the jumping round was generally held on a very high level. Veronica Gianmoena (99 metres, 116.1 p.) followed on rank 4, 16 seconds behind the leader, Sigrun Kleinrath, who landed the longest jump of the day with 107.5 metres (115.7 p.), was fifth and Glafira Noskova (93.5 metres, 111 p.) completed the top six.
During the cross country race Leinan Lund proved that she is not only an excellent skijumper, but also a very good cross country skier. While the young Norwegian was having a quite lonely race, the two Russian girls Glazunova and Nadymova were fighting against each other until the very last meters. In the end Glazunova was the one being stronger in the finish sprint.
Fourth place went to Italy’s Veronica Gianmoena, fifth was Sigrun Kleinrath, who were both able to keep their positions from the jumping event. Norway’s Hanna Midtsundstad proved once more that she is a very strong cross-country skier and ended up on rank six, climbing up five places from 11th place.
It was Groundhog Day for the Norwegian team also at men’s event in Rena. Norway’s Lars Ivar Skaarset landed the longest jump of the day with 113 metres (131.6 p.). His teammate Sindre Ure Soetvik was unluckier with the wind conditions, so a jump on 105 metres (131.8 p.) was good enough to bring him in the lead, one second ahead of Skaarset. Austria’s Christian Deuschl followed on rank three (103.5 metres, 128.6 p.). Marius Solvik and Jakob Eiksund Saethre landed on fourth (99 metres, 121.8 p.) and fifth (104 metres, 121.6 p.) place. Germany’s Simon Hüttel was sixth with a jump on 101 metres, (121.4 p.). With a total number of 44 athletes within two minutes, the men’s raced promised to very exciting.
It didn’t take very long until Soetvik and Skaarset were chased by a very big group of 15-20 athletes. In the middle of the fourth lap it was strong cross-country skier Paul Gerstgraser, who had been on rank 15th after the jumping part with a disadvantage of 1:05 minutes, who was able to close the gap to the Norwegians. He was followed by Jakob Eiksund Saethre. The three Norwegians and the Austrian went together on the last straightaway, fighting for the podium.
Unfortunately, Gerstgraser and Skaarset got too close each other and they both fell. Saethre and Soetvik were able to take advantage of this misfortune and put a few metres between themselves and their opponents. In the end, Saethre was able to beat his teammate in the finish sprint, celebrating his very first Continental Cup victory. Soetvik came in on rank two, Skaarset got back on his feet and ended up on a solid third place.
Gerstgraser didn’t only fall, but also broke a pole and was the unlucky fourth. Norway’s Lars Buraas, who had been on 44th place after the jumping, reached an outstanding fifth place with the fastest cross-country time. Sixth place went to Manuel Maierhofer from Italy.
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