WSC: Riiber claims 4th gold medal in Planica
Mar 04, 2023·Nordic Combined
Today the last medals in Nordic Combined were awarded at the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships in Planica (SLO).
Once again Jarl Magnus Riiber crowned himself World Champion after already winning gold in the Individual Normal Hill, Mixed Team and Team competition.
In the men's Individual Gundersen on the large hill, Jarl Magnus Riiber was in the lead after the Ski Jumping competition.
Beneath a blue sky, the Norwegian broke the hill record with an incredible jump on 147 meters and secured the victory of the jumping round confidently with 152.6 points.
He was therefore be the first one to start into the 10km cross-country race this afternoon.
Rank 2 at the HS138 went to Ryota Yamamoto from Japan, who reached 140 meters and collected 143.7 points, which placed him 36 seconds behind the leader.
Estonian Kristjan Ilves (139.5 mts, 137.0 pts) ranked third and went into the race 1:02 min after Riiber.
With the strong skiers Julian Schmid (+1:24 min), Johannes Lamparter (+1:26 min) and Jens Luraas Oftebro (+1:33 min) starting the race almost together, a tight fight for the podium could be expected.
Ilves caught Yamamoto on the first lap but made no move to overtake the Japanese or close the gap on the Norwegian, leaving Riiber running a lone race at the front and extending his lead to 1:13 after 2.5km.
Meanwhile, Lamparter, Schmid and Oftebro rushed up from behind, who caught up with the first chasing group after 5 km. After 6.2 km, Stefan Rettenegger and Matteo Baud also joined the growing pursuer group, so that at the beginning of the 3rd round six athletes had a chance to win a medal.
In the last lap, Lamparter launched an attack that only Oftebro was able to follow, while Rettenegger, Schmid and Baud fell back.
Riiber took the World Championship title in front of thousands of cheering fans, while Oftebro (+1:01.4 min) secured the double victory for Norway taking silver. Lamparter (+1:04.7 min) couldn't defend his title from 2021, but won bronze for Austria in the end.
Ski Jumping Results: WSC, IG LH/10km, Men, Planica, 4.3.23
Overall Results: WSC, IG LH/10km, Men, Planica, 4.3.23
