Dhe German Nordic Combined just missed the hoped-for next medal at the Olympic Winter Games in China. Manuel Faißt, as the best athlete from national coach Hermann Weinbuch’s team, took fourth place on Tuesday after an exciting final sprint. The Norwegian Joergen Graabak won gold after a jump from the large hill and a cross-country ski race over ten kilometers. The top favorite Jarl Magnus Riiber, who started as the leader and had just survived a corona quarantine, got lost at the beginning of the race. He made a wrong turn and lost a lot of time as a result. In the end he finished eighth. For the first time since 2010, the German combined athletes went empty-handed in an Olympic competition, most recently they had won gold in four competitions in a row.
In the freezing cold with temperatures around minus 20 degrees, silver was secured in Zhangjiakou by Jens Luraas Oftebro from Norway ahead of Japan’s Akito Watabe. To start with, Vinzenz Geiger won gold in the normal hill competition. This time the violinist finished seventh. The third best German was Julian Schmid in tenth place. Johannes Rydzek crossed the finish line in 28th place. Four years ago in Pyeongchang he had won gold in the competition.
Even during ski jumping on the large hill, it was clear that it would be difficult for the Germans to win the medal. The fastest German runners did not jump far enough and started the race with large deficits. “Actually, the gap is too big that we can still achieve something there,” said national coach Hermann Weinbuch. “Manuel Faißt actually has the best chance of being able to fight for a medal.”
“Feel the Olympic feeling”
And the coach was right. Faißt only joined the team at short notice for teammate Terence Weber, who was stuck in isolation for a long time. The 29-year-old showed a very courageous race. In the end, she was only 2.7 seconds short of bronze. Weber was only allowed to leave the quarantine on the day of the competition. He and Eric Frenzel, who had come out of isolation the day before, shared the fever with their colleagues. Both had tested positive for the corona virus upon entry.
“It was just really nice to see everyone again yesterday and to be able to enjoy this feeling of freedom again,” said the 33-year-old Frenzel on Tuesday morning and was looking forward to his visit to the cross-country stadium. He finally wanted to “feel the Olympic feeling, which I missed a lot for a few days”. Unlike Weber, who has already been taken out of the team for the remainder of the games, the three-time Olympic champion can still hope to play in the team competition on Thursday. “The health checks were good,” he said at a press conference by the German team. “The doctors gave the ‘go’ to charge me.”
Four years ago at the Winter Games in Pyeongchang, Frenzel was part of a very dominant German team. The combined athletes of the German Ski Association (DSV) had won all three medals in the individual from the large hill. At that time, Rydzek had won ahead of Fabian Rießle and Frenzel. The three then won gold together with Geiger in the team competition.
Also this year, the team of national coach Hermann Weinbuch is one of the favorites in the final Olympic competition of combined athletes. The missed medal in the individual competition on the large hill doesn’t change that.
