Einar Luraas Oftebro earns thrilling maiden World Cup win in Otepää
Jan 10, 2026·Nordic Combined
Einar Luraas Oftebro (NOR) earned his maiden Viessmann FIS men’s Nordic Combined World Cup victory with a thrilling Gundersen win in snowy Otepää, Estonia.
The 27-year-old, who took his first World Cup podium in Friday’s Mass Start, prevailed in a scintillating 10km cross-country race after the ski jumping was cancelled for a second day running in windy conditions.
With the results from the first of Thursday’s Provisional Competition Round determining the starting order, Oftebro began 36 seconds behind Julian Schmid (GER), the winner on Friday.
But with eight contenders all within reach of victory with a kilometer left, the elder of the Oftebro brothers kept his cool to beat veteran Johannes Rydzek (GER) in a sprint finish with Andreas Skoglund (NOR) also taking his maiden World Cup podium in third.
Overall leader Johannes Lamparter (AUT) was caught up in a three-way fall with Schmid and home favourite Kristjan Ilves (EST) heading into the closing stages and dropped to seventh, with Schmid partially recovering to finish fifth behind Jens Luraas Oftebro (NOR), whose incredible charge from 1:18 back ended in fourth place.
“It is just incredible,” said Oftebro. “I was working so hard for this for many years but didn’t get the results I felt I deserved.
Rydzek, who was chasing a 19th individual World Cup win, claimed his first podium of the season – the 45th overall of his long career - after fifth places in the last two events, as he chases selection for another Winter Olympics next month.
“It was a hard race with the snow falling and a big group came together but I was pretty confident, not having spent so much energy as the others coming from behind,” said the 34-year-old.
“I know this track pretty well – I have been here lots of times since 2011 – so I followed my plan and I am super happy to be back on the podium.”
It was also a milestone day for Skoglund, 24, whose previous best individual result was a seventh place in Lahti in March 2023.
“It really means a lot; it was really fun having a podium,” he said. “It feels like there are good opportunities for the future now; I am very happy. I can jump even better and the Compact should suit me very well, so I am looking forward to tomorrow.”
No jumping but drama in tracks
With heavy snow falling and fluctuating wind speed and direction in the morning, the ski jumping was initially delayed before the jury decided it remained too unstable to go ahead, forcing another cancellation on the Tehvandi HS97 hill.
Schmid (above), who took his first World Cup win in nearly three years in Friday’s wind-affected Mass Start, started first after his 95.0-meter jump for 115.4 points gave him an eight-second start over Rydzek (95.5m for 113.3 points), 10 seconds over Thomas Rettenegger (113.0 points from a 101.0m jump slightly spoiled by the landing) and 17 seconds over Lamparter.
With other strong cross-country skiers such as home favourite Ilves and Stefan Rettenegger (AUT) only 28 and 30 seconds back respectively, Einar Luraas Oftebro (36secs), Ilkka Herola (40 secs) and Andreas Skoglund (44 secs) not far behind, plus defending champion Vinzenz Geiger (1:09) and Jens Luraas Oftebro (1:18) also within range, the stage was set for a huge fight in the tracks.
Rydzek quickly joined Schmid at the front in the first kilometre and Lamparter swiftly made it a lead group of three by the end of the first 2km loop, with Stefan Rettenegger swiftly moving up to join brother Thomas in the chasing bunch, alongside Ilves and Einar Luraas Oftebro, who in turn were joined by Andreas Skoglund.
Lamparter (above) took the lead on the second lap, but by the halfway mark at 5km, the chasing group had breached the gap to make it a pack of seven skiers – minus Thomas Rettenegger, who dropped back - all chasing the podium, the home crowd roaring on Ilves, with Jens Luraas Oftebro also closing to within 20 seconds by the end of the third loop.
The penultimate lap saw Schmid back in front with Rydzek, while Lamparter took a more tactical approach as the leaders limbered up for a long sprint for home, Jens Luraas Oftebro putting in an almighty surge to join the leading group.
There was drama entering the final kilometer as Lamparter, Schmid and Ilves all came down in a multiple fall, costing the trio vital time and the chance of making the podium.
Einar Luraas Oftebro took it on at the front with Skoglund and Rydzek tracking him as they headed into the Tehvandi Stadium. Rydzek launched a final sprint on the outside but the elder Oftebro kept his nerve, lunging over the line to win by 0.5 seconds in 26:47.06, with Skoglund 1.4 seconds back in third.
Jens Luraas Oftebro’s valiant effort ended in fourth ahead of Schmid and Stefan Rettenegger, with Lamparter dropping to seventh and Ilves, Thomas Rettenegger and Vinzenz Geiger rounding out the top 10.
Watabe sets new World Cup record
There was also a special presentation to the athlete finishing 36th, Akito Watabe (JPN), on the day the 37-year-old former overall champion broke the record for World Cup starts, nearly 20 years after his debut as a 17-year-old in Sapporo (JPN) in March 2006.
Watabe, who joined the circuit full-time in 2008, finished in the top three in the overall standings seven times in eight years between 2011 and 2019 and won the Crystal Globe in 2017-18, a season when he claimed eight of his 19 individual World Cup wins.
He plans to retire at the end of this winter, but Saturday was his 296th individual World Cup competition, surpassing the previous record of Wilhelm Denifl (AUT), who competed in 295 between 2000 and 2019.
On Sunday, the final day of events in Otepää, the men will compete in a Compact, with the jumping scheduled for 12:20 CET and a 7.5km cross-country at 15:30.
