The German combined athletes suffered a small setback at the start of the World Cup year and missed the podium at the Black Forest Cup in Schonach.
In the first race of the World Cup home game, Olympic champion Vinzenz Geiger had to settle for fifth place due to the success of Norwegian Jens Luraas Oftebro. His Oberstdorf club colleague Julian Schmid came seventh when he returned from the four-week Christmas break.
Five and a half weeks before the start of the World Championships in Trondheim (February 26th to March 9th), in the eighth race of the season there was no DSV combined athlete on the podium for only the second time. Norway’s top star Jarl Magnus Riiber had been leading for a long time in a thrilling 10 km cross-country ski race, but then collapsed – the recently ailing World Cup record winner does not seem to be completely fit again.
In the finish of a large group, Oftebro broke away from Austria’s former world champion Johannes Lamparter and ultimately crossed the finish line 1.1 seconds ahead of him. The Finn Ilkka Herola came third (+8.2). The three-time season winner Geiger (+15.3) was ultimately around seven seconds short of the podium. Riiber saved sixth place from Schmid. Manuel Faißt was the third best German in eleventh place.
Schmid was the best-placed German after the jump, 38 seconds behind the leading Riiber, and Geiger was also doing well in the race in eleventh place (+56 seconds). Rydzek, who had regained his strength, had a weak jump and only started the race from 24th place (+1:23 minutes). There Rydzek no longer gave full throttle and ended up in 35th place.
In the women’s race, vice world champion Nathalie Armbruster had previously shone with second place at the World Cup home game. The Black Forest woman only had to admit defeat to the Norwegian series winner Ida Marie Hagen. There are more individual races coming up in Schonach on Sunday.