Unstoppable Riiber wins again, Graabak and Herola battle to podium
Feb 22, 2020·Nordic Combined
The unstoppable Jarl Riiber took another win in Trondheim today. Riiber showed yet another flawless performance and finished 59.3 seconds ahead of teammate and local hero Jørgen Graabak. Graabak had to push to his limits to wrestle the second place away from a surging Ilkka Herola (FIN), who finally claimed his first podium this season by finishing one minute and two seconds after Riiber.
Jarl and Harald Riiber turned the jumping part of the event into a family affair again and claimed the positions one and two on home ground. While Jarl’s 133 metres were not the longest jump of the day, the younger Riiber still claimed 137 points and a 31-second lead on older brother Harald (134.5 m; 129.3 p.). Japan’s Ryota Yamamoto had another convincing performance on the hill today with 136 metres and 127.5 points. He began his race from position three, +0:38 seconds after Jarl Riiber.
Of the faster skiers, Martin Fritz (AUT) and Magnus Krog (NOR) had well-grounded aspirations for the podium places with positions four and six and start delays of 54 seconds and one minute and six seconds. A second, potentially very fast group of pursuers clustered around red bib bearer Ilkka Herola. The Finn had jumped to 120.5 metres and started his race one minute and 26 seconds behind Riiber. Local hero Jørgen Graabak followed from rank 17, +0:12 seconds behind Herola.
With Manuel Faißt spearheading the German ski jumping efforts on rank five, much of the rest of the team was further back, around the +2:15 mark. Johannes Rydzek began his race at +1:07, Vinzenz Geiger at +2:14 and Fabian Rießle at +2:25.
In his usual fashion, Jarl Magnus Riiber was not impressed or threatened by any of the pursuers and skied ahead of the other athletes with a gap of around or even over one minute at all times after the 2 km point of the race. Riiber and his fellow athletes had to weather an incoming snow flurry at the start of the race and Trondheim's usual fast-changing conditions but the World Cup leader mastered all challenges without any visible difficulties.
Behind Riiber, however, the fight was on once more to claim the coveted remaining two podium positions and Ilkka Herola laid down a strong challenge early in the race. At the 2 km point when the athletes returned to the stadium for the first time, Herola had already made up seven positions and controlled the pursuing group containing Yamamoto, Krog, Faißt, Fritz, Bjørnstad and Rehrl. The Finn knew that he had to shake off all competition, especially strong skiers Magnus Krog and the fast-approaching Jørgen Graabak, early in the race as he is not the strongest sprinter towards the finish line.
By the 4 km point, Graabak had joined the group, along with Jens Lurås Oftebro but Ryota Yamamoto and Harald Riiber, who had been caught by the group on the second lap, were the first ones having to let go. With one lap to go, Herola and Graabak, who were already on the offensive, moving away from the rest of their fellow pursuers by five seconds and the the group’s numbers had dwindled down to Krog, Faißt and Fritz, who were all visibly tired and no danger to Herola and Graabak anymore.
Local hero Graabak had to mobilise all reserves to not lose Herola but overtake him instead on the last lap. Eventually, he entered the stadium first and was able to reach the finish line with some metres of advantage on the Finn, who was still really please with his long-awaited first podium of the season.
Magnus Krog finished fourth, Manuel Faißt was the best German on rank 5, Martin Fritz was sixth, Espen Bjørnstad seventh, Jens Oftebro eighth, Eric Frenzel ninth and Lukas Klapfer tenth.
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