Olympia: Drama in the combination – favorite Riiber turns wrong

As of 1:29 p.m | Reading time: 4 minutes

Vconfused and slightly shocked at the same time, Jarl Magnus Riiber realizes that something is going damn wrong. The target in front of him at the end of the straight. Can’t be – 2.5 kilometers are only behind him. He still has 7.5 kilometers to go. He looks around, to the left, to the right. What’s going on here?

He, the leader after ski jumping by a large margin, the great dominator of recent years, the king of combined athletes, who was still in the quarantine hotel the day before – he got lost. Wrong turn, too early towards the destination. Riiber realizes his mistake, turns around and runs back onto the track. After ski jumping, he took a 44-second lead onto the cross-country course. This wrong path costs him more than 20 seconds.

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And in the end, the extra meters cost him the gold medal he deserved. The competition is approaching, at 8.5 kilometers Riiber – apparently still weakened by his corona infection and the quarantine – has to be demolished. These Olympic Games, they are one big drama for the 24-year-old Norwegian.

“It’s such a shame about Jarl. He’s very disappointed and very sad,” reports Norwegian coach Ivar Stuan shortly afterwards. Riiber himself has to blow through first, then states: “I was in the tunnel, thinking about technical tasks. Suddenly I looked up – and I was on my way to my goal.”

The final sprint of the others was stronger

His teammates Jörgen Graabak and Jens Luraas Oftebro won gold and silver ahead of Akito Watabe from Japan. The German Manuel Faißt still had the chance to win gold until shortly before the end, attacked on the last climb in front of the stadium, but in the end his strength wasn’t quite enough. The final sprint of the others was stronger, fourth place for Faißt, who was actually not intended for these games and exhausted himself completely. Marked by the cold and the struggle, a supervisor and teammate, Julian Schmid, took care of him at the finish. Riiber then crossed the finish line in eighth place.

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What remains to be said is that the second individual race of the Nordic Combined at these Olympic Winter Games could hardly be surpassed in terms of excitement. In extreme conditions of minus 20 degrees at an altitude of 1700 meters, Vinzenz Geiger, winner of the first competition on the normal hill, finished seventh.

Julian Schmid finished tenth. Johannes Rydzek, who won in Pyeongchang in 2018, was only 28th. In the first competition of these games, he was on course for gold until shortly before the finish, but then dropped back to fourth place.

Faißt only came to the train as a replacement

For Faißt it was the first start of these Olympic Games. He was only moved up and flown in by Eric Frenzel and Terence Weber due to the corona infection. In the strong German team of seven combined athletes, all of whom can finish on the podium, he had previously been left behind. Although he had already been able to train with the team in China for a week, he only knew a day ago that he would actually start.

Since Weber is still in the quarantine hotel, Faißt got his place. And immediately proved how strong he is. Even if he narrowly missed bronze in the end.

“Manuel ran a great race and also jumped very well. He had a good starting position, but in the end something was missing due to the cold and altitude,” said national coach Hermann Weinbuch. Faißt started the race as fourth and the best German. “I’m more than satisfied with the competition, one of the best this winter,” said the 29-year-old. “The jump was good, the run too. I actually had enough grains on the last lap, but it wasn’t supposed to be at the end. But I’m still happy with the history.”

And Eric Frenzel? He watched along the route. Like Riiber, the three-time Olympic champion was allowed to leave the quarantine hotel on Monday. He hopes to start in the team competition on Thursday.