COC: Riessle back on top with thrilling finish sprint

Fabian Riessle celebrated a phenomenal comeback to the podium with a victory on home soil in Klingenthal (GER) today.

Richard Stenzel was in the lead after the Ski Jumping competition on the HS 85 in Mühlleiten at noon. 
The German reached 85 meters and collected a total of 126.4 points, which brought him the lead for 7.5 km Compact race in the afternoon.

Rank 2 was taken by Wille Karhumaa from Finland with the best jump of the day on 85.5 meters (126.1 pts), who started the race 6 seconds after Stenzel due to the fixed starting times. 
Jens Dahlseide Kvamme (82m, 122.2 pts) from Norway placed third, 12 seconds behind the leader.

Riessle started the 7.5 km cross-country race 1:05 min after his team mate Stenzel, after placing 23rd in the Ski Jumping competition. 
With an incredible performance he had the fastest skiing time once again with 16:57.7 min and worked his way up all the way to the leading group. 
With another strong skier in form of Jakob Lange as well as Karhumaa, COC leader Aleksander Skoglund and Tristan Sommerfeldt, five athletes entered the home stretch together showing a thrilling fight for the victory.

With his sprinting strength, Riessle secured the victory on 0.4 sec ahead of his team mate Lange, who placed second ahead of Karhumaa (+0.5 sec) who narrowly beat Skoglund (+0.5 sec) in a photo finish. Sommerfeldt (+0.7 sec) placed 5th.

It is Riessle's first win since the World Cup Team Sprint victory in Val di Fiemme 2021.

SJ Results: Compact Men HS85/7.5km – 19.1.24 Klingenthal
Overall Results: Compact Men HS85/7.5km – 19.1.24 Klingenthal