Lahti (FIN): Norway wins Team Sprint with strong catch-up race

Team Norway 1 is the winner of the men’s first and only Team Sprint event of the season.

Germany 1 was in the lead after the Ski Jumping competition on the Salpausselkä HS 130 this morning.

The Germans showed a strong team performance on the hill this morning, despite the changing wind conditions. 
Germany 1 (244.9 pts) took the victory of the Ski Jumping round with Julian Schmid reaching 127.5 m, while his team mate Terence Weber secured the lead with 128 meters.

Rank 2 was taken by Austria 2, with Lukas Greiderer (126 m) and Mario Seidl (132.5 m), who collected a total of 232.2 points and started the race 17 seconds after the Germans.
Germany 2 with Vinzenz Geiger (129.5 m) and Manuel Faisst (130.5 m) placed third with 231.6 points, 18 seconds behind the leaders.

The furthest jump of the day was performed by Johannes Lamparter with 135.5 meters for team Austria 1, who placed 4th after jumping with team mate Stefan Rettenegger (111 m).

With 9 teams starting the 2x7.5km race within the first minute, a tight fight for the podium could be expected.

Weber went into the course first, followed by Seidl and Faisst, while Rettenegger closed the gap to the pursuer group already after 1.3 km. 
Meanwhile, Oftebro worked his way up from 7th place to 5th, handing over to Graabak at the first exchange only 18.5 seconds behind the Germans. 
While Schmid managed to keep the lead for Germany 1 for one more lap, Weber couldn’t keep his pursuers at a distance and was caught at the 3km intermediate.

With Oftebro catching up to the leading group, five athletes went through the 3rd lap together, lead by Rettenegger.

Germany 1 wasn’t able to keep up with the high speed and fell back after 7.3 km, while Oftebro took over the leading work, closely followed by Rettenegger, Faisst and Seidl. 
During the 7th lap, Rettenegger and Oftebro managed to pull a gap to their pursuers, handing over to their team mates after 10.5 km with a 19 second lead.

In the last lap, Geiger proofed his skiing strength again and sprinted away from Greiderer, who couldn’t follow him. 
At the same time, Graabak started an attack against Lamparter and reached the home stretch first.

He secured the victory for team Norway 1 7.1 seconds ahead of Lamparter, who took the second place for Austria 1. 
Geiger (+39.6 sec) brought the third place into the finish for Germany 2.

SJ Results: TS Men HS130/2x7.5km – 2.3.24, Lahti
Official Results: TS Men HS130/2x7.5km – 2.3.24, Lahti