Mario Seidl steals the TRIPLE triumph in Chaux-Neuve
Jan 20, 2019·Nordic Combined
In a fantastic upset, Austria’s Mario Seidl turned the TRIPLE rankings around and claimed the biggest success of his career in Chaux-Neuve (FRA). Two great jumps and a flawless 15 km race had the 26-year-old cross the finish line 25.6 seconds ahead of German Fabian Rießle. Franz-Josef Rehrl, who won the events on Friday and Saturday, rode on Rießle’s coattails and crossed the finish line 33.7 seconds after his teammate to take the bronze position.
Seidl had shown steady jumps in the past two days but was able to access his full potential in both competition rounds today: 118.5 and 115 metres, the top distances in the two respective rounds, gave him a point total of 253.8 and a 37-second advantage on Franz-Josef Rehrl. One weaker jump of 111 metres in the first round was enough to cost Rehrl his advantage from the first two days and put him in the danger zone of being caught by skiing prodigy Fabian Rießle, who continued on a very good level of jumping with 111 and 1112.5 metres (230.6 p.) and started from position four with a delay of one minute and 33 seconds.
Norwegian Espen Bjørnstad continued his good level of jumping as well and had the third position in the start grid with jumps of 113 and 109.5 metres (236.9). World Cup leader Jarl Magnus Riiber did not find the key to his very best jumps yet again and landed at 113.5 and 110.5 metres. Start position five meant a delay of one minute and 54 seconds at the start.
The 15 km distance is not a common race for the Nordic Combined athletes, still, the longer distance did nothing to deter Mario Seidl from claiming his TRIPLE trophy. He started out fast, keeping the gap to Fabian Rießle almost constant and even gained ground on teammate Franz-Josef Rehrl. He then rested a little in the middle part of the race. In the end, however, he found a reserve of strength and powered to a clear start - finish victory that few thought was possible for the usually stronger ski jumper.
As expected, Franz-Josef Rehrl was caught by a charging Fabian Rießle in the fourth lap and while Rießle managed to shake off Espen Bjørnstad, who had managed to follow in the German’s wake for the first part of the race, Rehrl proved to be able to match the German’s pace. However, Rießle showed who was the stronger skier at the entrance to the stadium, where he accelerated and managed to gain a few crucial metres on Franz-Josef Rehrl. The Austrian saw that there was no fighting for the second position and ended a very successful weekend by celebrating with the numerous fans, who enjoyed a riveting sports event, on the final metres of the race.
Outside of the podium position, Norway’s Jørgen Graabak proved his cross-country prowess once more by skiing from the eighth to the fourth position. Teammate Riiber ended his race as fifth, Lukas Klapfer was sixth, Akito Watabe seventh, Jan Schmid eighth, Espen Bjørnstad ninth and Vinzenz Geiger tenth.
With the victory and the 200 World Cup points awarded, Seidl advanced to the second place in the overall World Cup with 669 points. Jarl Magnus Riiber still leads with 858 points, Johannes Rydzek is third with 648 points.
