The Nordic combo enters the Riiber Dimension

The opening of the Nordic Combined World Cup in Ruka has left an indelible verdict: Jarl Magnus Riiber is technically impenetrable. Norway has conquered 8 of the 9 placements up for grabs on the podium, but even Italy can look with optimism to what has been done in Finland.

Tuesday 3 December 2019 14 minutes reading time

The 37th edition of the Nordic Combined World Cup got underway this weekend from the Ruka ski resort near the city of Kuusamo. Since Thursday, when the training sessions and the Provisional Competition Round were held on the Rukatunturi, it was clear that the Norwegian team was overall a lot more on the jump than all the other formations, an emblematic prologue to what then it happened in the next three days. In fact the Scandinavian superpower has completely annihilated the opponents, concluding the opening stage with 8 podiums over the 9 available, collected with four different athletes, and other various placings among the best ten. The most anticipated man was clearly Jarl Magnus Riiber who did not disappoint expectations at all, in fact he managed to impress beyond the thinkable. In the off-season the champion of Oslo was able to perfect the race component that last winter had betrayed him the most, to the surprise of all the jump: Ruka Riiber has constantly found performances from the best three, managing to raise the race rod as the strongest jumper in the circuit and the biggest in the history of the discipline in this component. In fact, already in the Saturday competition the twenty-two Norwegian has definitely overtaken compatriot Bjarte Engen Vik in terms of jump segments won in first-level races, subsequently reaching an altitude of 25 - the Scandinavian in activity at the end of the last century had reached 23 in his illustrious career. The domain of Riiber in the jump has therefore turned into three gundersen one photocopy of the other: the abyssal margin gained on the trampoline on those who might worry him about narrow skis allowed the norge to face the basic tests without any minimum difficulty soul, as if they were trivial training sessions, going to collect three victories out of three with a disarming naturalness. What impressed us most in relation to the star of the seasonal opening was the great technical solidity expressed in the jump, on the one hand because the Rukatunturi is unanimously recognized as a difficult context since the wind plays a predominant role and he, despite everything, has always managed to remain at the absolute top, on the other because Riiber historically on the very extreme trampolines had difficulty in having margin since its performances are based more on good verticality than on maintaining speed, in this sense it was emblematic that on the 23 jump series won before Thursday only 3 had arrived on lifts where it is possible to easily jump over 140 meters (Ruka, Lillehammer and Trondheim). All this, combined with the fact that it is one of the 5/10 strongest cross-country skiers on the circuit, makes Riiber the prototype of the perfect combinator, even better than the best Frenzel ever. The first of the "able-bodied" combinatists in Ruka was the young and very talented Jens LurÃ¥s Oftebro, able to store three third places in as many races. Norway's new jewel has shown a high consistency on the trampoline, in fact second only to that of Riiber, while in the background he has made it clear that he knows how to defend himself very well and if necessary he can also have a good final cue, highlighted in the competitions on Saturday and Sunday when he gave two remarkable finisseurs like Geiger and Graabak a hard time. Clearly the youngest of the Oftebro brothers cannot represent the true alternative to the compatriot of three years older, but he will be called to confirm himself with continuity in the first ten positions in the first real winter in the major category. Second places in the Finnish races for Espen BjÃ¸rnstad, Vinzenz Geiger and JÃ¸rgen Graabak: the twenty-five year old stationed in Trondheim would seem to be the only one able to try to undermine Riiber in the jump, but the narrow gaps on the skis make him an adversary after all not so much after all uncomfortable; the first real rival of Riiber in the race for the crystal ball is at the moment the Olympic champion on Large Hill in Sochi, able to leap with reasonable profit to Ruka and consequently author of constant placings among the best 5; finally, the twenty-two year old from Oberstdorf faltered in the performance on the trampoline, picking up a top-ten every race and when everything went well for a podium. In the overall standings of the World Cup Riiber is clearly at full points with 300 points, followed by the trio Oftebro-Graabak-BjÃ¸rnstad at a stop between 170 and 180 lengths, while Geiger is more delayed at 132 points. All the other contenders for the crystal ball have encountered different problems in Finland, already losing heavily contact from the summit. Among these are the three tenors Schwarz-Rot-Gold Fabian RieÃŸle, Eric Frenzel and Johannes Rydzek. The main protagonists of the "combined Germanic" that dominated the 2016-17 season revealed enormous technical problems in the jump and de facto played the role of Ruka weekend extras, collecting just a couple of top ten in three days. In particular, Rydzek was not able to take home even a point valid for the maximum circuit and in general in the German team the role of second violin was assumed in all respects by Manuel FaiÃŸt. Almost equally opaque to the Teutonic, the other natural contenders of Riiber at the World Cup: Franz-Josef Rehrl and Akito Watabe in the first place, secondly also the Finns Ilkka Herola and Eero Hirvonen. Among these, the one who defended himself the most was the Austrian, of whom the three "non-noble" positions in the top ten can be considered disappointing given the contest context on the card he was particularly close to. Not very bright on the trampoline and absolutely in trouble at the bottom the leader of the Japanese movement who for the second consecutive season lived an opening in chiaroscuro, letting Riiber go on the run after not even a handful of competitions. The serious shortcomings in the leap of the Germans are also showing the Finns, among whom only Herola is saved but who is struggling with a state of not exceptional form, while Hirvonen has taken the meager consolation of being the strongest cross-country skier in the home stage. In all this chaos of disappointing performance of athletes who do not live up to the names they carry, the second fastest-growing team behind Norway is the blue one: the optimistic declarations on the eve found a first positive response to Ruka, in a context of ultimately difficult race, as a top-ten arrived and numerous other solid spots in the points area. In the Gundersen on the 5 kilometers disputed on Friday Samuel Costa harpooned a ninth place of prestige thanks to a final race where he put in line big guns such as Geiger and Herola, the next day Alessandro Pittin tried to emulate his team mate but stopped at eleventh position after a convincing jump, finally the young Aaron Kostner proved to be the most constant in the Finnish three days bringing home two seventeenths and a twenty-seventh place. The other two Italians took to the track - Lukas Runggaldier and Raffaele Buzzi - they struggled much more, not even managing to approach the first thirty positions. The Nordic Combined World Cup is now moving to Lillehammer: in the site that hosted the 1994 Olympic Games, a 4x5 Km team race is scheduled on Saturday 7 December and the fourth individual race on Sunday 8. RUKA I - HS 142/5 KM 1. RIIBER Jarl Magnus (NOR) 13'30''7 2. BJÃ˜RNSTAD Espen (NOR) to 53''3 3. OFTEBRO Jens LurÃ¥s (NOR) a 1'17''1 4. GRAABAK JÃ¸rgen (NOR) a 1 '51''7 5. RIEÃŸLE Fabian (GER) in 1'52'9.9 FAIÃŸT Manuel (GER) in 1'53''3 Click here for complete results. RUKA II - HS 142/10 KM 1. RIIBER Jarl Magnus (NOR) 26'12''7 2. GEIGER Vinzenz (GER) at 48''8 3. OFTEBRO Jens LurÃ¥s (NOR) a 48''9 4. BJÃ˜RNSTAD Espen (NOR) at 54 '' 8 5. GRAABAK JÃ¸rgen (NOR) at 55''0 6. GREIDERER Lukas (AUT) at 59''4 Click here for complete results. RUKA III - HS 142/10 KM 1. RIIBER Jarl Magnus (NOR) 25'36''6 2. GRAABAK JÃ¸rgen (NOR) a 2'08''8 3. OFTEBRO Jens LurÃ¥s (NOR) a 2'08''9 4. REHRL Franz-Josef ( AUT) at 2'11''2 5. OFTEBRO Einar LurÃ¥s (NOR) at 2'57''0 6. BJÃ˜RNSTAD Espen (NOR) at 2'59''6 Click here for complete results.

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