TRIPLE: Victory for Geiger, bad luck for Riiber
Jan 29, 2022·Nordic Combined
Vinzenz Geiger is the winner of the second TRIPLE competition, after the wind whirled the starting field upside down on Day 2 in Seefeld (AUT).
Kristjan Ilves proofed his strength on the Toni-Seelos-Schanze HS 109 today and secured the first place of the second Ski Jumping competition round of the weekend.
With 104 meters and 137.3 points the Estonian, who placed 5th at the first TRIPLE competition yesterday, beat Terence Weber from Germany on rank 2 (101 m, 127.3 pts).
Ilves was therefore the first one to start into the 10 km cross-country race with a 40 second lead.
The 3rd rank was taken by Martin Fritz (103 m, 125.8 pts) who started the race 46 seconds behind the Estonian. Yellow bib owner Johannes Lamparter took place 4, with a 55 second backlog on Ilves.
Meanwhile, Franz-Josef Rehrl landed the furthest distance of the day. The Austrian showed a strong jump over hill size to 109.5 meters and collected 122.4 points, which made him place 7th in the end.
A moment of shock was caused by yesterday’s winner Jarl Magnus Riiber, who was caught by a gust right after the takeoff, but was luckily able to prevent a crash.
The Norwegian managed to save his jump and landed at 100 m (119.9 pts), but lost valuable points and had to start the race in 13th place, 1:10 min behind Ilves.
The Estonian started the race strongly, but was no match for the fast pursuers, led by Johannes Lamparter. They reduced the gap to 25.1 seconds after just 2.5 km and put enormous pressure on Ilves at the front.
In the second round, the large group of pursuers around Lamparter, Vinzenz Geiger (GER), Martin Fritz (AUT), Terence Weber (GER) and overall World Cup second Jarl Magnus Riiber swallowed up the jumping winner, who had to admit defeat.
A total of 9 athletes crossed the 5 km time keeping within 5 seconds, so a hard fight for the podium could be expected.
While Geiger was still showing a high pace at the head of the leading group at 7.5 km, Ilves and Riiber (+35.1 sec) had to let go.
It was to be the first race of the season for the Norwegian in which he missed out on victory and ultimately had to settle for 10th place (+1:18.9 min) - his weakest result, since Lahti 2020.
On the last climb, Lamparter, who was strong in sprinting, launched an attack that only Joergen Graabak and Vinzenz Geiger were able to withstand.
In the last meters, the German again ignited the turbo and beat Lamparter on the home straight with just 1.4 seconds, securing his first ever victory in Seefeld. Graabak took the third place (+4.2 sec) in this very fast, exciting race, reaching his first podium since 2020.
Results: Men Individual NH / SJ – 29.1.22, Seefeld TRIPLE
Overall Results: Men Individual NH / 10km – 29.1.22, Seefeld TRIPLE
