Victory for GP-leader Herola in Villach

Ilkka Herola is the winner of the first Men’s Individual Gundersen competition in Villach/Austria.

Before the roller ski race, yesterday’s PCR winner Mario Seidl showed a strong performance on the HS98.

The Austrian, who’s also the owner of the blue BIB as Best Jumper, was the winner of the Ski Jumping competition at the Villacher Alpen Arena. With today’s best distance of 97.5 meters and 118.4 points, Seidl was the first one to start into the roller ski race this evening.

Rank two was taken by the Summer Grand Prix Overall leader Ilkka Herola. The Finnish in the yellow BIB jumped strong 97 meters and reached a total of 117.3 points that gave him a 4 second backlog on the leader from Austria.

A strong performance was also shown by Kristjan Ilves from Estonia. 94.5 meters and 117.2 points resulted in a third place for the Estonian, who started 5 seconds after Seidl into the 10 km race.

With Stefan Rettenegger (+ 8 sec) from Austria and Norwegian Espen Bjoernstad (+10 sec) a total of five athletes went into the race in the first 10 seconds. 
The leading group formed quickly, sharing the work. After 5 km the gap between them and their pursuers was already over 43 seconds.

Johannes Rydzek, who currently wears the red BIB as Best Skier, reached 90 meters on the hill this afternoon, went on the track 43 seconds after Seidl and was part of the pursuer group during the race.

In the final round Seidl and Herola managed to pull away, while the Austrian couldn’t keep up with the fast pace of the Finnish on the last meters. 
After his victory in Oberhof the Overall leader from Finland was the first one to cross the finish line again, 11.1 seconds ahead of Seidl.
Third place went to Stefan Reggenegger from Austria, who showed a strong performance today already on the hill during his first ever Grand Prix competition.

Results: IG Men HS98/10km – 4.9.21 Villach
Overall Standing: Men SGP 2021