Brilliant catch-up race brings Geiger to victory
Jan 09, 2022·Nordic Combined
Vinzenz Geiger secured the victory in today's competition in Val di Fiemme through a brilliant comeback.
The Ski Jumping round of the second Individual Gundersen in Val di Fiemme took place this morning at the HS 106 in Predazzo.
Kristjan Ilves performed the furthest jump of the day with 105 meters and gaines 138 points. Therefore, the Estonian was the first one to start into the 10 km cross-country race this noon.
With a jump on 100 meters (137.2 pts) Terence Weber placed second and went into the race only 3 seconds behind Ilves.
The third rank was taken by yesterday’s winner Johannes Lamparter from Austria, who reached 100.5 meters (134.3 pts) and had a 15 sec backlog on the leader.
A total of seven athletes started within the first 30 seconds, therefore, the race at the Lago de Tesero stadium was one of the most exciting ones of the season.
Already after 1.2 km the chasing group around Terence Weber (GER), Yoshito Watabe (JPN) and Franz-Josef Rehrl (AUT) caught up with the leaders Lamparter and Ilves.
At this point, the distance to the second group of pursuers had also melted from 30 to 17 sec.
Geiger pulled away from them after 3.7 km and shortened the gap to 8.5 seconds, while Lamparter confidently led the leading group.
After 5 km, the leading group consisted of ten athletes who were within 3.8 seconds and had every chance of winning the day. At this point, Geiger had already worked his way up to 3rd place (+ 0.7 sec).
On the last climb, the German started one of his dreaded sprint attacks and was able to break away from the group. He reached the finish line 5 seconds ahead of Johannes Lamparter in second place, who prevailed against Johannes Rydzek (+ 5.7 seconds) in a tight sprint to the finish. Kristjan Ilves finished the race in fourth place (+11.2 sec).
Results: Men Individual Gundersen NH/10 km SJ – 9.1.22
Overall Results: Men Individual Gundersen NH/10 km – 9.1.22
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