Third time’s the charm: Riiber and Graabak win Team Sprint
Feb 29, 2020·Nordic Combined
For Jarl Magnus Riiber, the third start in a Team Sprint in Lahti finally lead to the top of the podium instead of to a DNF: the Norwegian World Cup number one won together with teammate and World Cup number two, Jørgen Graabak, and ended a series of unlucky events in the past.
After a flawless performance, Graabak and Riiber finished their race 28.1 seconds ahead of the two German teams, who managed to sweep the rest of the podium in a very appealing team performance. Terence Weber and Manuel Faißt claimed their first joint second place and Weber’s first-ever podium while the Oberstdorf-born duo of Johannes Rydzek and Vinzenz Geiger finished third, +30.8 after the winners.
Graabak and Riiber laid the foundation for their win with solid ski jumping. 122 and 127 metres meant a point total of 242 points. As the Japanese team consisting of Akito Watabe and Ryota Yamamoto were also strong on the hill, the Norwegians only had a head start of seven seconds. Yamamoto showed 123.5 metres and Akito Watabe added 121.5 metres to the equation, so that a final score of 238.5 points was recorded for Team Japan I.
The first German team was also in the mix with 236.6 points after Weber and Faißt jumped to 124.5 and 119.5 metres and started their race only eleven seconds behind Riiber and Graabak.
The second Norwegian team lead the group of pursuers who began their race half a minute after the first three teams. With 222.2 points, the “Team Espen” consisting of Espen Andersen and Espen Bjørnstad started their race 40 seconds after their teammates, Lukas Klapfer and Martin Fritz for Austria I followed at +0:55, Austria II (Orter/Jöbstl) at +0:59 and Rydzek and Geiger were a podium threat with a start time of +1:13. The local heroes and last year’s winners from Finland, Eero Hirvonen and Ilkka Herola were further back this time, beginning their endeavour at +2:11.
In their usual dominant fashion, Graabak and Riiber circled around the course and consistently extended their lead on any pursuers from seven seconds to about 30 seconds in the end.
The fight for the podium positions, however, took a dramatic turn when Akito Watabe broke a pole in a downhill around the 10 km point of the race and lost contact to Manuel Faißt, who he had skied together with until that point. Watabe and Ryota Yamamoto were not able to close the 8-second gap which opened due to this accident. While the German team managed to still go their pace and keep their advantage alive, the Japanese team was caught by a group of four teams on the second-but last lap and Yamamoto and Watabe had no chance to beat any of those four teams on the last two laps. They finally finished seventh.
Manuel Faißt secured his team’s second place by two seconds in the end, while teammate and strong finisher Johannes Rydzek left no chance to any of the other teams in the pursuing group. After placing five athletes in the Top Ten last weekend, this result is another positive step for the German team.
“Team Espen” claimed position four, +37.4 seconds after their teammates Graabak/Riiber in the end, Austria I (Klapfer/Fritz) were fifth and Austria II (Joebstl/Orter) sixth. Eero Hirvonen and Ilkka Herola landed on position eight, France and the Czech Republic completed the Top Ten.
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