The German combined athletes need to catch up on the large hill in the individual competition for the Olympic medals. After a moderate jump, substitute Manuel Faißt is fourth as the best German. However, he is already 47 seconds behind the leading returnee, Jarl Magnus Riiber (Norway).
Faißt, who was used for Eric Frenzel, flew at 133.0 m and was nine meters shorter than Riiber, who was only released from the corona quarantine on Monday. “Of course I’m completely happy. Now we’re going to the cross-country ski run with full commitment,” said Faißt on “ZDF”.
The second best German is Julian Schmid in ninth place (+1:35 minutes). Normal hill Olympic champion Vinzenz Geiger has to catch up on Riiber in 14th place by 2:15 minutes, but he can go in pursuit with his Oberstdorf teammate Johannes Rydzek (15th/+2:18). “The starting position is okay, you can attack from there,” said Rydzek.
Riiber is 44 seconds ahead of his Estonian training colleague Kristjan Ilves and the Japanese Ryoto Yamamoto who has the same number of points.
Top star Riiber went to the hill without a training day. Whether his form has suffered from the almost two weeks in the hotel room will be shown in cross-country skiing over ten kilometers (from 6.30 p.m. OT/11.30 a.m. CET/ZDF and Eurosport).
Frenzel, who also came out of quarantine on Monday, was not yet at the start, but supports his teammates on the track. The three-time Olympic champion hopes to compete in the relay on Thursday.