Riiber reigns in Ramsau again despite jumping cancellation
Dec 20, 2024·Nordic Combined
Norwegian star Jarl Magnus Riiber claimed his record-extending 76th World Cup victory in unusual circumstances in the first of two scheduled Viessmann FIS Nordic Combined men's competitions in Ramsau.
The five-time champion finished sixth in a punishing Mass Start cross-country race, 23.3 seconds behind compatriot Jens Luraas Oftebro, with Norway taking the first four places.
But with heavy snow and tricky conditions forcing a cancellation of the ski jumping later on Friday, the results of Thursday’s Provisional Competition Round on the WM-Schanze HS98 hill were used to determine the overall outcome.
That left Riiber, who had soared to the longest jump of the day in the PCR with a 96-meter effort earning him 132.5 points, as the overall winner on 126.7 points, just 1.5 ahead of Oftebro, who claimed his first podium finish of the season in second.
It was the 27-year-old’s sixth World Cup win in Ramsau, where he has only once not finished in the top two – a third place – over the last six years.
He also extended his lead in the overall standings to 75 points over Julian Schmid (GER), who finished sixth overall, and 112 over Vinzenz Geiger (GER).
Estonia’s Kristjan Ilves finished third to record his 12th World Cup podium with 116.5 points, narrowly pipping Ilkka Herola (FIN), who made the early running in the cross-country before fading, with Joergen Graabak (NOR) fifth overall.
“It was a really hard cross-country; I probably didn’t have the best skis and I struggled the whole way round,” said Ilves. “It ended up like a lottery, but I am happy to step on the podium again.”
Johannes Lamparter (AUT) and Herola (FIN) were the early leaders in an exciting Mass Start race, before Andreas Skoglund (NOR) took it on with brother Aleksander up in support.
Riiber endured an up-and-down race, dropping 13 seconds behind after 3.2km before recovering slightly by halfway, only for surges from Graabak and Aleksander Skoglund to leave him 13.5 seconds behind heading into the final 1.8km.
Riiber eventually finished 23.3 seconds back in sixth as Oftebro (above) headed a quartet of Norwegians to win in 26:49.9, a mere 0.6 seconds ahead of Aleksander Skoglund, with Graabak pipping Andreas Skoglund in a photo-finish for third and Geiger coming home fifth, 8.6 seconds back.
“I was really tired,” said Oftebro after a hotly-contested race. “The Skoglunds and Joergen did a really good job and I just tried to follow them. They were going really well but I found some energy and had a good sprint at the end, so I was happy to get over the line first.
Last year in Ramsau, Oftebro also won a Mass Start cross-country only to suffer a bad crash on the hill, but he was not given a chance to erase that memory as the heavy snow and increasing wind meant the jumping could not take place.
“I had some really bad flash-backs to last year when I crashed and I was happy it was cancelled because I didn’t want another crash,” added the 24-year-old.
FIS race director Lasse Ottesen explained that because of the weather conditions, organisers deemed it unsafe to start the jumping.
“Thanks to the test jumpers especially, because we tried everything we could,” he said. “But the snow and wind meant we had to make this decision unfortunately.”
Click here for full results from Friday's Mass Start competition.
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