The “Big Three” claim top spots in Nordic Combined TRIPLE opener
Jan 31, 2020·Nordic Combined
Jarl Magnus Riiber was also unbeatable on a shorter working day in Seefeld (AUT) today and won the Individual Gundersen 5 km opener of the Nordic Combined TRIPLE with a margin of 44.3 seconds. Behind Riiber,other familiar faces took the remaining two spots on the podium: Vinzenz Geige (GER) sprinted to position two and Jørgen Graabak (NOR) was only 0.3 seconds off the pace of the German on rank three (+44.5).
On the hill, it was a family affair for the Riiber brothers with Jarl taking the winning jump of 105.5 metres (134.8 p) and Harald setting the second-best jump of 106 metres (126.9 p.) 32 seconds divided the brothers at the start line but Harald was in the good company of Japan’s Akito Watabe, who showed 104.5 metres and started three seconds after the Norwegian.
Espen Bjørnstad also had 105.5 metres to show for and opened his race +0:43 seconds after his leading teammate but fast German Vinzenz Geiger was breathing down his neck with a starting time of +0:47 seconds. Einar Lurås Oftebro and Szczepan Kupczak also started within a minute of the younger Riiber brother and Jørgen Graabak had to make up +1:05 from position eight. In his “living room”, Eric Frenzel (GER) was in notably better jumping shape and claimed the eleventh position with a starting time of +1:16).
In an otherwise uneventful race at the head of the field, Jarl Magnus Riiber turned his advantage of 32 seconds on brother Harald to a 44.3 second advantage on runner-up Vinzenz Geiger which meant Geiger only managed to shave off three seconds of his start delay of +0:47 seconds.
Starting into his race, Geiger quickly closed the gap to Akito Watabe and Esoen Bjørnstad. After the first intermediate time, the trio was also joined by Jørgen Graabak and Jens Lurås Oftbro, so that six athletes entered the stadium together at the 2.5 km point.
The group dropped back to a delay of over a minute after some tactical games before Graabak and Geiger stepped on the gas pedal again to reduce the gap to 44 seconds at the finish line. Espen Bjørnstad, Akito Watabe and Jens Oftebro only lost three and five seconds more respectively. Harald Riiber finished seventh, Eric Frenzel skied to a respectable eighth position (+0:56). Lukas Greiderer and Ilkka Herola completed the Top Ten with time behinds of +1:06 and +1:09.
The unlucky one athlete who will not be able to take part in tomorrow’s Top 5 Ind. Gundersen 10 km race is Czech Republic’s Ondrej Pazout who suffered a broken ski in the race.
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