It is the grand finale of the Nordic Combined and Nordic Combined women, which takes place in Schonach at the weekend as part of the Black Forest Cup. Spectators are allowed – so the duel between the Austrian Johannes Lamparter and the Norwegian title holder Jarl Magnus Riiber in the two remaining races for men gets the deserved frame.
“No matter how it turns out, it was a really good season for me and I will give everything again in Schonach”says Lamparter.
Riiber puts the pressure on
However, the psychological advantage lies with the Norwegian, who is currently second. The current form speaks for the 24-year-old, who went away empty-handed at the Olympic Games in Beijing, but is getting closer and closer to his rival: With his two victories at his home World Cup in Oslo, he has beaten Austrian Johannes Lamparter in the race for overall World Cup victory pressure set.
“Of course I would have preferred it if I could have taken a bigger lead over Riiber in the overall World Cup before the last weekend in Schonach.”, says Lamparter. The combined athletes still have to climb the hill and cross-country ski run twice – Riiber (1,183 points) is only 19 points behind the leader (1,202). That means: With a win, Riiber would be past Lamparter again, because the winner gets 100 points and the runner-up only 80 points – it couldn’t be more exciting.
Olympic champion Geiger has to make do with third place
Things didn’t go as planned for the German athletes in Oslo at all. Manuel Faißt took tenth place as the best athlete from national coach Hermann Weinbuch’s team on Sunday (March 6th, 2022).
Johannes Rydzek finished eighth on Saturday (March 5th, 2022). Both, like the other Germans, hope to work their way up from their positions 15 and 12 in the overall World Cup rankings.
Incidentally, the best German Nordic combined athlete, Vinzenz Geiger, is probably third in the World Cup rankings at the end of the winter. After second place last season, however, it is another top result.
The women are also at the start in Schonach
Not only the men, but also the women are at the start in Schonach and end their World Cup season in the Black Forest. “My goal is to really enjoy this competition again and, of course, to achieve top performances again.”, says Jenny Nowak, who wants to improve from twelfth place overall. Cindy Haasch is currently tenth as the best German, the Norwegian dominator Gyda Westvold Hansen has already been determined as the overall World Cup winner.
Source: wp/sid/dpa