Jarl Magnus Riiber is unstoppable in Lillehammer and celebrates his third win in a row. Julian Schmid and Johannes Rydzek showed a strong comeback on Saturday (December 2nd, 2023), but missed the podium.
After jumping, Riiber could hardly take away the 60th World Cup victory of his career. He was the only athlete to crack the 100 meters on the normal hill. He started the 10-kilometer cross-country race with a whopping 56 seconds lead and didn’t let this advantage be taken away from him.
In the end he won by 35.5 seconds over his compatriot Jens Luraas Oftebro and celebrated his third victory in a row after his two most recent successes in Ruka. Jörgen Graabak completed the Norwegian triple victory in third place (+36.8 seconds).
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Schmid and Rydzek just missed the podium
Julian Schmid was the best German. In the end, the Oberstdorfer finished fourth, just a second shy of the podium despite a strong comeback. Johannes Rydzek landed directly behind. Manuel Faisst and Vinzenz Geiger made it into the top 15 in twelfth and 13th place.
Wendelin Thannheimer came 26th, Fabian Rießle, who had joined the World Cup team for the sick David Mach and Tristan Sommerfeldt, had to settle for 36th place.
Frenzel: “There is a lack of potential on the hill”
“We are getting closer from competition to competition,” said national coach Eric Frenzel in an interview with ZDF after the race. “Of course there is still a lack of potential on the hill. Then the forces could be better allocated. But we are very proud of the boys. They gave it their all once again.”
In the morning, the German combined athletes had a mixed competition on the hill. Terence Weber was the best DSV athlete in ninth place. Although he was weakened by a cold, he initially stayed well in the top ten. But on the last lap he had to give up and was pushed through to 17th place (+1:13.8 minutes).
German quartet starts a great race to catch up
After the jump, Schmid, Rydzek, Geiger and Faißt had to start a race to catch up, at least two minutes behind the leaders. But the podium was always within reach. The DSV quartet gained a few seconds in a larger chasing group in the first few kilometers. Halfway through the race, they had already reduced the gap to third place to 50 seconds. Geiger alone had gained 15 places. “From a running perspective, it looks very good,” said Frenzel happily off the track.
When it came to the last lap, the gap to the podium had shrunk to a slim ten seconds. While Riiber ran the race home alone, the Norwegians picked up the pace in the fight for the podium. Schmid, Geiger and Rydzek were initially able to keep up. Schmid in particular gave it his all in the last few meters, but couldn’t get past Oftebro and Graabak.
Riiber dominates early in the season
Riiber had already won two of the three competitions at the start. Most recently he even set the hill record in Ruka. The German combined athletes, on the other hand, are still waiting for their first podium of this World Cup season. In the newly introduced “Compact Race”, Rydzek narrowly missed the podium with fourth place in Ruka.
