Athlete of the Week: Jarl Magnus Riiber (NOR)

The World Cup leader has done it again: for the second time in a row, Jarl Magnus Riiber has won the Nordic Combined TRIPLE in Seefeld (AUT) and became only the second athlete to win multiple TRIPLE trophies so far.

With seven victories this season, Riiber leads the World Cup overall standings comfortably but the way the Norwegian wins his victories has changed. The Nordic Combined TRIPLE was a good example of this shift: even though Riiber is still the best on the jumping hill, his advantage on other athletes has lessened, so that the 23-year-old now also has to rely on cross-country strength, tactics and sprinting prowess to take his victories home.

Ilkka Herola and Akito Watabe catching up with Riiber in the final 15 km event of the Nordic Combined TRIPLE illustrates Riiber’s new competition type rather well. He has some advantage but had to learn to defend his supremacy with teeth and claws on the cross-country track in the end if necessary.

Tactics like taking the lead and slowing the leading group down when the fast cross-country skiers are with him or attacking early on the last uphill to take important metres from a tired Ilkka Herola in the final race of the TRIPLE are becoming more and more natural to maturing competitor Riiber. He doesn’t lose his nerve when something doesn’t go his way but perseveres, regroups and keeps going.

This is even true, when smart tactics are employed against him as Akito Watabe demonstrated in Lahti. For Riiber, not winning for once and respecting a superior performance and strategy have come natural, too. With a buffer of 33 career victories and being the third-most successful Nordic Combined athlete of all times at the young age of 23 probably rather help with this new-found ease and mindset, as does a second TRIPLE trophy.

We are curious which facet the fascinating competitor Jarl Magnus Riiber will show us next: there are World Championships on the horizon after all!