Otepää (EST): Riiber beats Ilves by 0.4 sec

Jarl Magnus Riiber won his 9th Individual competition today in Otepää beating local hero Kristjan Ilves by 0.4 seconds.

The Estonian was in the lead after the Ski Jumping competition on the Tehvandi HS 97 today.

In winterly temperatures Ilves jumped 97 meters (127.7 pts) and took the lead. Therefore, he was the first one to start into the 10 km cross-country race at the Tehvandi stadium this afternoon.

Rank 2 after jumping went to Johannes Lamparter from Austria, who landed at 99 meters (126.4 pts) and went into the course only 5 seconds after Ilves.

Norwegian Jarl Magnus Riiber (98 mts, 125.2 pts) placed third, 10 seconds behind the leader.

The furthest distance of the day was reached by Stefan Rettenegger with 102.5 meters (124.7 pts), endig up 5th, 12 seconds behind the leader.

Due to the short time gaps, the Rettenegger brothers Stefan and Thomas as well as Riiber Ilves and Lamparter went through the main part of the race together.

Johannes Rydzek tried to close the gap to the leading group and reduced the distance to 18.6 seconds after 5 km. 
Meanwhile, there were constant changes in the lead between the five top skiers who shared the work until the last lap.

On the last uphill Lamparter started an attack and tried to pull away, but couldn’t shake his opponents off with Riiber, Ilves and Stefan Rettenegger folloing closely. Only Thomas Rettenegger fell back, so that four athlete went into the stadium together. On the last corner, Riiber and Ilves managed to overtake Lamparter, showing an exciting sprint to the finish line. 
The Norwegian narrowly prevailed over Ilves (+0.4 sec), while Lamparter (+3.2 sec) placed third, creating the same podium result as yesterday.

With his 70th World Cup victory, Riiber set a new all-time record with 9 wins in a row.

SJ Results: IG Men 10km/HS97 – 10.2.24 Otepää
Results: IG Men 10km/HS97 – 10.2.24 Otepää