Jarl Magnus Riiber is taking a break from the World Cup. The high-flyer, who can no longer be denied the overall victory in the Nordic combined, is foregoing the competitions in Lahti.
The door for competition is open. The Nordic Combined World Cup will take place in Lahti this weekend without record world champion Jarl Magnus Riiber. The Norwegian had been unbeaten for no less than ten races and secured the overall World Cup again early last weekend.
The season’s goal has been achieved and Riiber is taking a break. The association said he will take care of his injured shoulder. The Norwegian has had to repeatedly struggle with problems recently. At the end of November in Kuusamo, he dislocated his shoulder again while celebrating – and then won two of the three races of the weekend.
He will have surgery immediately after the season, after which he will not be able to do jump training for at least two months. Before the procedure, 26-year-old Riiber wants to compete again in the season finale in Oslo, his hometown.
World Cup overall winner
The first kings of winter have been announced
Opportunities for the Germans
It will be interesting to see who takes advantage of the opportunity and wins in the absence of the series winner. From a German perspective, David Mach should have the best cards. The 23-year-old from Allgäu finished sensationally third in Otepää. It was the first podium finish of his career.
The German team has had a mixed season so far. Especially on the hill, the DSV combined athletes have big problems keeping up with the best. The podium is often out of reach after jumping. As the best DSV athlete in the overall ranking, veteran Johannes Rydzek is currently in seventh place. Manuel Faisst is eighth. Julian Schmid and Vinzenz Geiger – who were reliably on the podium last season – are not in the top ten.
After an outstanding race, David Mach achieved his first podium finish (archive photo).