Geiger edges Riiber in Otepää sprint finish for Gundersen win
Feb 08, 2025·Nordic Combined
Vinzenz Geiger (GER) turned the tables on defending champion Jarl Magnus Riiber (NOR) to claim his fifth victory of the Viessmann FIS Nordic Combined World Cup season in Saturday’s Gundersen in Otepää (EST).
Geiger had to settle for second in Friday’s Mass Start despite beating Riiber in a sprint finish in the cross-country after the Norwegian’s extraordinary 102.5m jump on the Tehvandi hill.
But the German produced his own stunning effort of 101.5m - four meters further than anyone else - on Saturday to set up another duel in the tracks with the five-time champion, who started just four seconds behind.
As expected, the two main rivals in the overall standings tracked each other closely for the whole 10km, with Geiger remaining just in front from start to finish.
The chasing pack, led by the relentless Jens Luraas Oftebro (NOR), did close to around 30 seconds a third of the way through the race before their exertions caught up with them.
Geiger and Riiber pushed on before the German attempted to put daylight between them with 1300m to go. But he couldn’t shake off the Norwegian legend, who is chasing a record-breaking sixth overall World Cup title before retiring at the end of the season.
As on Friday, it came down to another sprint finish, with Geiger again just having the power to prevail in the final straight despite Riiber’s best efforts to pass him.
Riiber, who saw Geiger cut his lead in the overall standings to 91 points before Sunday’s Compact – the final event before the World Championships starts later this month – said he was “very satisfied” after a testing day in the jumping.
“It was a windy competition on the hill so to be near the top behind Vinz was a big success,” he said. “I knew already before the race it would be too tough for me. Vinz looks very strong at the moment and I need a bit more training before the Championships to be able to feel more confident.”
Behind the two main men, there was a 10-way fight for the final podium spot with the likes of Julian Schmid (GER), Thomas and Stefan Rettenegger (AUT) and Johannes Lamparter (AUT) all involved in the pursuit.
But it was Oftebro, who still tops the Best Skier standings, who again made his presence felt, moving up from 10th after the jumping to take his sixth podium of the season.
“I tried my best for the first 5km to make it hard for those behind,” said the Norwegian. “I couldn’t get the big gap so I tried to rest for the sprint but then I got enough of a gap and it is really nice to be on the podium here with this great crowd.”
Earlier on the HS97 hill, Swiss competitor Pascal Mueller set the early target with a 97.0-meter jump to earn 113.7 points, before American Benjamin Loomis soared out to the same distance for 120.5 points.
Espen Bjoernstad’s (NOR) stylish 95.5m briefly saw him at the top of the leaderboard on 125.5 before German duo David Mach and Wendelin Thannheimer overhauled him.
Mach’s 97.5m jump was the second furthest of the morning, earning 127.5 points, while Thannheimer scored 128.5 with a stylish 95.0m effort to post a new target for the top 10.
None of them could do better until the final two before Geiger (above) landed a stunning 101.5m jump – just 1m short of Riiber’s on Friday and four meters further than anyone else on Saturday – to post 134 points.
Even Riiber on this occasion could not match his closest rival, but the Norwegian’s 96.0m effort still earned 133.1 points, setting the stage for another duel between the two overall rivals.
As ever, it didn't disappoint.
Click here for full results from Saturday’s Gundersen.
