COC: Skoglund takes Overall lead in Trondheim

Last weekend the first Nordic Combined Continental Cup took place on the converted HS138 Ski Jumping Hill in Trondheim (NOR).

With one Super Sprint and two Individual Gundersen, three competitions were on the program for the Nordic Combined men.

Marius Solvik from Norway won the first COC win of his career on Friday after he was in 5th place (10:49.6 min) after the cross-country skiing part.

With the best jump of the day on 135 meters and a total score of 129.1 points, the Norwegian clearly took the lead on home soil and won.

Second place went to Mael Tyrode from France, who was already in second place after the sprint (10:18.4 min) and confidently defended this position with 123.5 meters (122.9 pts).

Finn Otto Niittykoski took third place on the podium, which he had already taken after the sprint (10:24.0 min) and confirmed with a jump of 124.5 meters (111.8 pts).

The victory in the Super Sprint cross-country part went to Fabian Riessle with a total time of 10:00 minutes. The German reached 119.5 m on the hill, finishing fourth overall.

CC Results: Super Sprint Men, HS138/1km, 12.1.24 Trondheim
Overall Results: Super Sprint Men, HS138/1km, 12.1.24 Trondheim

On Saturday the first of two Individual Gundersen events took place.

In winterly conditions, Simon Mach jumped the furthest distance of the day with 135.5 meters and collected 135.7 points. 
The German secured the victory of the Ski Jumping round and went into the 10km cross-country race with a 1 min lead.

Rank 2 after jumping went to Friday’s winner Marius Solvik. The Norwegian reached 132.5 meters with a total of 120.6 points, while Finn Wille Karhumaa (125m, 120.2 pts) took the third rank, 1:02 min behind the leader.

Mach ran a lonely race at the front, while behind him an exciting battle was fought for the remaining two podium places.

Both Solvik and Karhumaa were unable to keep up with the high pace of the competition and fell behind.

Meanwhile, Aleksander Skoglund from Norway, who was 12th after jumping, and Austrian Fabio Obermeyr (10th) showed a brilliant comeback.

In the end they couldn't catch Mach, so the German celebrated his first COC victory in Trondheim's snowfall.

Skoglund (+28.9 sec) defended second place against Obermeyr (+36.7 sec) in third place.

Fabian Riessle showed a fantastic race and improved from 38th place after jumping to 7th place overall. He delivered the fastest skiing time with 28:16 minutes for the 10km.

SJ Results: IG Men, HS138/10km, 13.1.24 Trondheim
Overall Results: IG Men, HS138/10km, 13.1.24 Trondheim

The last COC competition in Trondheim took place on Sunday with the second Individual Gundersen.

Due to heavy snowfall, the Ski Jumping round had to be canceled, so the result of the Provisional Competition Round was used.

The PCR victory went to Marius Solvik with the best distance of the day of 138 meters (135.3 pts). Second place went to Austrian Manuel Einkemmer (136 m, 131.1 pts), who started the 10km cross-country race 17 seconds after the Norwegian.

Aleksander Skoglund took third place with 133.5 m (129.9 pts), 22 seconds behind his team mate.

As on the previous day, Skoglund showed a strong race and took the lead early on. While Einkemmer fell back, Solvik stuck with his teammate, closely followed by Austrian Florian Kolb.

In the end they couldn't catch Skoglund, who celebrated his 3rd COC win in front of his home crowd.

Solvik (+25.9 sec) secured a double podium for Norway, while Einkemmer (+49.1 sec) took his second COC podium of the season.

Fabian Riessle was once again the fastest man on the course with a time of 24:03.4 minutes and worked his way up from 34th to 15th place.

With his victory, Skoglund takes the lead in the overall COC standings.

PCR Results: IG Men, HS138/10km, 14.1.24 Trondheim
Overall Results: IG Men, HS138/10km, 14.1.24 Trondheim

Overall Standings: 2023/204 COC - Men