Beijing 2022: Team Norway wins Olympic gold

Team Norway is Beijing’s Olympic team champion, securing the gold medal in front of Germany and Japan.

Austria was in the lead after the Ski Jumping competition on the HS 140 in Zhangjiakou (CHN) today.

In heavy snow fall Franz-Josef Rehrl jumped the furthest distance of the day with 141 meters and secured the lead for Austria after the Ski Jumping round at the Olympic Winter Games. 
His team mate Johannes Lamparter had the second best jump on 140 meters and also collected valueable points for the team. 
With a total of 475.4 points, the Austrians were the first ones to start into the 4x5 km race at the National Cross-Country Skiing Centre this evening.

With 469.4 points, Norway took the second rank (+8 sec) after Espen Andersen (135 m) and Espen Bjoernstad (133.5 m) showed strong performances during the last jumping round of the Olympic Winter Games in Beijing.

The third place (467 pts) went to Germany with strong jumps from Vinzenz Geiger (133 m) and returnee Eric Frenzel (132 m), who competed in his first Olympic competition, after a long time in quarantine due to a Covid-19 infection. The Germans started the race only 11 seconds behind Austria.

With Japan (466.6 sec) a total of four teams went into the race within in the first 12 seconds, so a tough fight for the podium could be expected.

On the challenging track team Norway showed its strength on cross-country skis one more time. 
Espen Bjoernstad started the race for the Skandinavian, while Manuel Faisst went into the course for Germany, together with Akito Watabe from Japan and Franz-Josef Rehrl from Austria. 
The four nations stayed together until the first exchange. With a constant change in the lead, the top teams stayed together also at the second exchange, although Johannes Lamparter tried to pull away from the group at the last uphill into the stadium, only gaining a 1.8 sec lead. 
Eric Frenzel went into the race as third athlete from Germany, but had difficulties at the track due to his long quarantine. 
He lost 36.8 seconds on his 5 km, while Jens Luraas Oftebro managed to pull away from his pursuers, bringing Norway a lead of 10.4 sec over Japan and Austria on his last lap. 
Joergen Graabak finished the race successfully for Norway, crossing the finish line with a 54.9 sec lead.

A tight fight between Germany (+54.9 sec) and Japan (+55.2 sec) happened on the home stretch, with Vinzenz Geiger beating Ryota Yamamoto.

Intermediate Results: Men Team LH/10km SJ – Beijing, 17.2.22
Overall Results: Men Team LH/10km – Beijing, 17.2.22