'He's in another league': Riiber bows out of world championships with another gold

If this really was the 'Last Dance' for Jarl Magnus Riiber (NOR), the king of Nordic Combined waltzed his way to one final major victory.

The retiring Norwegian star won his third gold medal of the Trondheim 2025 World Championships on Saturday, dominating on the hill and in the tracks to cruise to victory in the Men's Individual Gundersen LH/10km.

Riiber easily won the ski jumping phase and led all the way in the cross-country race to win by over a minute, despite slowing down to savour a victory lap while carrying a Norwegian flag as he entered the stadium.

In a sprint finish well behind him, Joergen Graabak (NOR) rebounded from Friday's disqualification to take silver, with Vinzenz Geiger (GER) snatching bronze, leaving Jens Luraas Oftebro (NOR) less than a second off the podium in fourth.

Despite the excitement of the chase for the minor medals, however, the day belonged to Riiber, arguably the greatest Nordic combiner of all-time, in front of his adoring home fans.

The 27-year-old will finish his career at the end of this World Cup season amid a battle with Crohn's disease, and he went out with a bang at his last major championships with three golds and a bronze from his four events.

"It was insane," Riiber said of Saturday's competition. "So much people around the track, to be able to just enjoy the last 5km.

"This was my last (major) race and I performed at my best, so I couldn't ask for more."

In winning his seventh individual world championships medal, Riiber surpassed Ronny Ackermann (GER) to set a new record, as well as claiming his 15th overall world medal and 11th gold.

He was only prevented from picking up a second consecutive four-gold clean sweep at the world championships by the disqualification of Graabak's jump for a binding infringement in Friday's team event that saw Norway settle for bronze.

Chasing Riiber on the cross-country course, Johannes Lamparter (AUT) and Julian Schmid (GER) led a fluid pack, and were eventually joined by Graabak, Geiger, Oftebro and Ilkka Herola (FIN) in a group of six podium contenders.

Lamparter, Schmid and Herola dropped away in the race to the finish, however, leaving Graabak, Geiger and Oftebro to fight between for two medals between three of them in Nordic Combined's version of musical chairs.

Oftebro, who had pushed hard earlier in the race from further behind, didn't have enough left in the tank on the home straight, and Graabak used all the experience gained from a record four Olympic gold medals to win the sprint.

"There is something called 'best of the rest', I think that's me today," Graabak said.

"Jarl is just better than me, so it's not even bittersweet to be second. It's just hats off to him, and I'm really happy both for him and for me. It's a perfect day for us."

Graabak rated winning silver on home snow as his best moment in Nordic Combined — even ahead of his two individual and two team Olympic triumphs.

"I think it was for sure the coolest day I've ever had in my entire career," he said.

"I have about 500 or 600 friends present today in the arena, so this was my day to shine. Especially after the incident yesterday, I'm so, so happy to be here and to be on the podium."

Geiger, who claimed team gold with Germany on Friday, as well as mixed team silver and individual normal hill bronze last week, was more succinct with his summary of his world championships experience.

"Four starts, four medals, it's crazy," he said.

'Payback time': Norway respond to Team disappointment on the hill

In changing wind conditions on the ski jumping hill earlier on Saturday, Riiber was once again without peer.

His dominance on the hill was underlined by the fact that he started two gates lower than anyone else, and four gates below most jumpers, resulting in the slowest in-run speed of any of the 49 starters at 91.3km/h.

But he still managed to out-jump not only the entire field, but also the 138m hill, soaring 139m to win the round by 18.4 points and give him a commanding cross-country head start of 1:14 over his nearest rival, Ryota Yamamoto (JPN).

Riiber admitted that the pent-up frustration from Friday's team event propelled him even further on the hill.

"It was a little bit payback time from yesterday, so it was a lot of emotion, a lot of jumping that had to come out," he said.

His compatriot Espen Bjoernstad (NOR), in his final competition before retirement, finished third on the hill with the second-longest jump at 138.5m, putting him 1:19 behind Riiber to begin the cross-country race, though he faded in the tracks to finish 13th.

Bjoernstad, who was left out of the team for Friday's event, received a huge ovation from the home fans — as did Graabak, who responded to Friday's disqualification with the seventh-best jump, and third-longest at 136.5m, to place him 1:52 behind Riiber.

Of the other top cross-country skiers, Lamparter (fifth, 1:36 behind), Geiger (ninth, 2:18 behind) and Oftebro (12th, 2:23 behind) were all in the top 12. They eventually bunched up together in the cross-country leg, but were ultimately too far behind Riiber to mount a serious gold medal challenge.

Riiber will return to the World Cup as he looks to win his sixth overall title in the last seven years, but the retiring star used Saturday's final world championships event to reflect on his journey in the sport.

"My conclusion is that I couldn't ask for a better way to finish my career," he said. "I'm very proud of what I have done and achieved, now I'm looking forward to retire."

Click here for full results from Saturday's Gundersen LH/10km.