Jarl Magnus Riiber from record in a dark Lillehammer for the Nordic combined

After Ruka's hat trick the Oslo champion also defeated the competition on home snows in Lillehammer, winning two successes that allowed him to write the first winter record: no combinatorist had previously established himself in the first 5 seasonal races of the maximum circuit. The German team is growing, but the first "anti-Riiber" is JÃ¸rgen Graabak.

Tuesday 10 December 2019 14 minutes reading time

The Nordic Combined World Cup has just sent the second weekend of the season in Lillehammer to archive: a terrific Jarl Magnus Riiber managed to cover up the flaws of a weekend of races to forget for one of the winter Olympic disciplines historical. The crime took place on Thursday evening during Team Captains' Meeting, when the top executives of the combined "fell from the pear tree", becoming aware of the lack of presence in Norway of teams with at least 4 elements in order to regularly compete in the Event Team in Saturday program. Excited hours have obviously led to the cancellation of the competition in question, replaced by a much more interesting individual competition. The question of a certain gravity was not so much the lack of dispute of the team test (which no one missed), but the fact that it was taken by surprise at the stage essentially started when the duty-maker should have ascertained with good advance the actual presence of at least 8 formations useful to the cause. The phrases of circumstance released to the media were even more strident when it was tried to highlight the good health of the discipline, which frankly is far from the numbers of a few years ago. In this sense, it makes it particularly clear that in two weeks we will return to compete in Ramsau, where the structures have been outdated for some time and in recent times there have been some missed steps in the management of the event. But we come to the competitive side of the Nordic combined, the only one that saves the face from the many negligences of the recent past: as mentioned in Lillehammer Jarl Magnus Riiber wrote an indelible page for the history of the discipline since in Sunday's race he managed to bring at home the fifth victory over five since the beginning of winter hostilities, a goal that no one had ever managed to reach before. On the snow, friends of the Oppland, in race one the twenty-two of Oslo replicated one of Ruka's solos, having gained an abysmal advantage on the trampoline and then having managed with total serenity the 10 kilometers on narrow skis. The next day, however, it can be said that for the first time there has been a match for at least one opponent - Franz-Josef Rehrl in the century, good at limiting the gap in the jump thanks to a non-perfect landing by Riiber -, but seeing how the rest of the competition developed then we can easily say that the norge has never been doubted as the fifth seasonal pearl, brought home simply by walking away from it, crushing the Austrian in just over 4000 meters on a track made very demanding by a heavy snowfall. The numbers for the youngest of the Riiber fans are always more impressive and it is frankly difficult to imagine a stop for less than accidents: the next races of the maximum circuit will be held on 21 and 22 December in Ramsau, where the Scandinavian has always had a good feeling with the Normal Hill hosting the 1999 World Championships. Styria the risk will be seriously that of the virtual assignment of the Crystal ball after just one month of races. To go and bother the first of the "humans" you have to knock again at the door of Norway: so far he has played the best start of the career season JÃ¸rgen Graabak - according to both tests of Lillehammer -, whose dreams of glory are clashing with the unbeatable Riiber. The Olympic champion from Sochi has so far demonstrated a constant performance in the jump that could rarely be admired, what's more it has always been confirmed among the fastest in the sprint, asking the Germans for what happened in the Gundersen on Saturday. The Schwarz-Rot-Gold team has finally managed to bring in the race some of the talked about progress made in the fall in the jump component: on the LysgÃ¥rdsbakken all the Teutonic showed progress in comparison with Ruka, so much so that so far they have been the only real alternative to the Scandinavian domain. With good comebacks in the bottom and with a head-to-head in the final, Vinzenz Geiger and Fabian RieÃŸle managed to win a third step of the podium, closing in fourth place in the other race. Steps forward also for the legend bearing the name of Eric Frenzel (7th and 5th), while still in trouble Johannes Rydzek who at least managed to bring home the first seasonal finish in the top 15. In addition to Riiber and Graabak, the Norwegian superpower can continue to smile thanks to the boy Jens LurÃ¥s Oftebro (5th and 6th), by now an immovable of the top-ten, and to a whole series of second lines at a young age that has collected the best career results over the weekend - Andreas Skoglund's 16th place and Kasper Moen Flatla's 19th place. After Ruka's exploits, instead, he returned to the ranks of Espen BjÃ¸rnstad (12th and 7th) who in any case did not fail to steal the eye in the jump segments. Globally less brilliant the performances of Austrians and Finns, these last orphans of half first team that is looking for the lost enamel on the trampoline: the Rot-WeiÃŸ-Rot have been kept afloat again by the second lines - if you can still to define thus -, that is Martin Fritz (8th and 10th) and Thomas JÃ¶bstl (10th and 8th, as well as two of the three best career results), while the veterans together with Rehrl have again highlighted a condition delay; among the Nordics, on the other hand, the only weight results were obtained by Ilkka Herola (6th and 9th), especially with narrow skis compared to Ruka's non-striking performances. Back in difficulty in the bottom of Japan, the results of Akito Watabe are emblematic: 20th and 14th. In Lillehammer the placements in the top ten have been so divided: 7 to Norway, 6 to Germany, 4 to Austria, 2 to Finland and 1 to Italy. That's right, the Azzurri took another ninth place thanks to Samuel Costa in race-one, more generally everyone confirmed what was good about the Finnish opening a week ago. The twenty-seven of Val Gardena found greater continuity in the jump, managing to close at the 12th place on Sunday and becoming the first Italian in the ranking of the maximum circuit. Alessandro Pittin in turn obtained solid performances on the trampoline that allowed him to crown comebacks on narrow skis up to two other top-twenty (a 14th and a 19th place), while Aaron Kostner (33rd and 26th ) has stabilized close to the points zone in that ranking area where it will have time and space to gain experience and improve. It goes without saying that for Italy this is the best start to the season for so many years, but be careful not to exaggerate the concept by creating excessive expectations: at the moment the maximum result zone would seem to be precisely the lower part of the top- ten, while to be able to dream the podium will need a further step forward in the jump by everyone. For the record in Lillehammer, Lukas Runggaldier also competed, finishing both competitions in 44th place. In the general classification of the World Cup, Riiber controls with a full score of 500 points, followed by Graabak at an altitude of 335 and Oftebro at 265. First among the Germans is Geiger at 242 lengths, while all the other contenders pay a considerable gap from third place virtual. Next appointment with the maximum circuit is set in Ramsau, where on 21 and 22 December two Gundersen are scheduled with a jump from the small trampoline and subsequent 10 kilometers of bottom. Next weekend, instead, the Continental Cup circuit from Park City will start, including the women's circuit. LILLEHAMMER I - HS 140/10 KM 1. RIIBER Jarl Magnus (NOR) 25'54''5 2. GRAABAK JÃ¸rgen (NOR) at 46''4 3. RIEÃŸLE Fabian (GER) at 46'6.6 4. GEIGER Vinzenz (GER) at 46''7 5. OFTEBRO Jens LurÃ¥s (NOR) at 47'8 6. HEROLA Ilkka (FIN) at 53''9 Click here for complete results. LILLEHAMMER II - HS 140/10 KM 1. RIIBER Jarl Magnus (NOR) 29'27''4 2. GRAABAK JÃ¸rgen (NOR) at 20''2 3. GEIGER Vinzenz (GER) at 47'9 9. RIEÃŸLE Fabian (GER) at 53''3 5. FRENZEL Eric (GER) at 53''6 6. OFTEBRO Jens LurÃ¥s (NOR) 58''0 Click here for complete results.

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