Germany’s Julian Schmid sprints to JWSC gold in the 5km event
Jan 23, 2019·Nordic Combined
After two days of intensive training in frosty Lahti the Junior World Championships 2019 also kicked off for the Nordic Combined men with the 5km Gundersen event.
Already after the jumping round it was clear that the cross-country race would be a close affair. Both Norway’s Jens Luraas Oftebro and Austria’s Johannes Lamparter were able to land the longest jump on 92m, what put the young Norwegian one second ahead of Lamparter, followed closely by Germany’s Julian Schmid, who recently debuted at FIS Nordic Combined Worldcup in Otepää, just two seconds behind.
Neither the heavy snowfall nor the demanding track could stop these three athletes from staying together throughout the race, followed closely by last year’s Junior World Champion of the 5km event, Vid Vhrovnik from Slovenia, who was able to close the gap of 24 seconds really fast.
However, in the second lap he had to pay tribute to this high tempo and was not able to keep up with the top three athletes. In the last climb of the course Schmid was able to set an attack and put some meters between himself and his opponents. Neither Lamparter nor Oftebro were able to close that gap again, so that Schmid could celebrate a clear victory.
Lamparter ended up on second place, Oftebro came in third, followed by Vrhovnik and young Norwegian Skoglund. Italy’s Aaron Kostner, who was on 21st place after jumping, rounded up the top six with the fastest cross-country time.
