Norway wins Team Sprint in Lahti
Feb 26, 2022·Nordic Combined
The Team Sprint victory of today’s race in Lahti went to team Norway 1 with Jens Luraas Oftebro and Joergen Graabak.
Their teammates from Norway 2 was in the lead after the Ski Jumping round on the Salpausselkä HS 130 today.
Under sunny conditions Espen Bjoernstad (130.5 m, 143.9 pts) and Espen Andersen (131 m, 139.6 pts) jumped the furthest distances of the day and took the lead. A total of 238.5 points gave them a 10 sec lead for the 2x7.5 km race, over Austria 1.
Lukas Greiderer (129.5 m, 140.1 pts) and Franz-Josef Rehrl (128 m, 138.6 pts) collected 278.7 points together and started into the race from rank 2.
The third place after jumping went to team Germany 2 with 270.6 points. Manuel Faisst (125.5 m, 128.2 pts) and Terence Weber (130 m, 142.4) had a 26 second backlog on the leaders from Norway.
The gold and silver medalists from Beijing 2022, Jens Luraas Oftebro (123.5 m, 131.7 pts) and Joergen Graabak (124.5 m, 130.1 pts), took the fourth place for Norway 1.
An exciting, fast race could be expected, since every athlete skied in 1.5 km laps, with a total of nine exchanges.
Norway 1 defeated their lead in the beginning of the race, but the Austrians caught up to them during the third lap, making them reach the exchange area together.
Meanwhile, the pursuers from Germany and Norway worked hard to catch up with the leaders.
After 7.5 km the gap was only 15.2 seconds for Norway 1 and 15.5 seconds for Germany 2. At the 6th exchange, the Norwegians and Germans had worked their way up to 3 seconds on the leaders, so that an exciting fight for the podium places could be expected.
After Terence Weber fell and broke his pole, Germany 1 fell back and dropped out of the top 3.
On the last lap, the Norwegian teams together with Austria 1 pulled away from Vinzenz Geiger (Germany 1) and went into the finish sprint together.
Joergen Graabak secured victory for himself and Jens Luraas Oftebro, 1.1 sec ahead of Lukas Greiderer (Austria 1) and Espen Bjoernstad (Norway 2, +4.8 sec).
Results: Men Team Sprint LH/2x7.5 km SJ – 26.2.22
Overall results: Men Team Sprint LH/2x7.5 km – 26.2.22
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