Lamparter doubles up in Ruka with dominant Gundersen win
Nov 29, 2025·Nordic Combined
Johannes Lamparter (AUT) won a fourth consecutive Nordic Combined individual World Cup event for the first time in his career after a dominant display in Saturday’s wind-affected Gundersen in Ruka (FIN).
Having broken his Ruka duck in Friday’s Compact with a maiden win at the Finnish resort following five previous second places, the 24-year-old doubled up with another smooth cross-country victory after the ski jumping had to be cancelled amid strong winds.
That meant the results of the Provisional Competition Round, which Lamparter won with a jump of 132.5m for 131.6 points, had to be used, giving the Austrian a 14-second start over compatriot Thomas Rettenegger (AUT) and 31 seconds over Julian Schmid (GER).
After Schmid caught Rettenegger early on the second of the four 2.5km laps, the two worked in tandem to try to eat into Lamparter’s lead, but could never get closer than 25 seconds – after 7.5km – before focusing on the fight for second place.
Ultimately Schmid proved the stronger after a punishing uphill sprint took him clear for his second successive second place, 32.7 seconds adrift of Lamparter.
But Rettenegger, one of the best ski jumpers in Nordic Combined, maintained his form to earn only his second individual World Cup podium and a first since a third place in a Mass Start in Otepää (EST) in January 2023.
Lamparter had previously won three individual World Cup events in a row in his Crystal Globe-winning 2022-23 season – two back-to-back Gundersens in Seefeld (AUT) and one in Oberstdorf (GER).
But having won the final two competitions of last season in Lahti (FIN) and the first of the new season on Friday, he broke new ground in Ruka with a fourth straight victory to establish himself as the early favourite for the overall crown, with defending champion Vinzenz Geiger (GER) missing both Ruka and next week’s two events in Trondheim (NOR) with a foot injury.
“It was a perfect day,” he said. “It wasn’t so good that we couldn’t do any jumping today but I did an excellent jump in the PCR, which I was happy about."
Schmid, 26, also continued his strong start to the season as he seeks to enter the fight for a first Crystal Globe. after finishing third overall in 2022-23 and fourth last season.
“I tried to catch up with Lamparter and Rettenegger in the first two laps,” he said. “I manage to catch Rettenegger but Lamparter was probably too strong today.
“I think the distance between me and him was around 20 seconds in the second lap but my body didn’t feel that good so in the end I am very satisfied with second place.”
Rettenegger, who had the longest jump – 136.0m – for 128.0 points in Friday's PCR (below) to put himself in a position to contest the podium places, was delighted to achieve his goal having slipped to seventh in Friday’s Compact after topping the jumping standings.
Ilkka Herola (FIN), who claimed his first individual podium finish in Ruka on Friday, started 1:23 behind and moved up steadily from 12th place to sixth by halfway.
The home favourite briefly rose as high as fourth but ultimately lost a sprint finish to Einar Luraas Oftebro (NOR), the first Norwegian home in fifth after a strong race which he started in 13th.
His brother Jens, normally the quickest in the tracks, opted not to compete in the cross-country and save his energy for Sunday’s Mass Start after a poor jump in the PCR left him an impossible 8:18 back.
Wendelin Thannheimer (GER), who started the cross-country in fourth, suffered a fall on the first of the four 2.5km laps to fall back to sixth and ultimately came home seventh, a place behind Franz-Josef Rehrl (AUT).
Earlier the ski jumping had to be cancelled with only the first 10 of the 59 athletes able to make it down the ramp before the challenging wind conditions became too much.
FIS Nordic Combined Race Director Lasse Ottesen explained that the “wind was coming in at speeds of 5, 6, 7m/s” straight across the HS142 Large Hill, making it too dangerous to continue.
“The safety of the athletes is priority number one,” he added in confirming the decision to abandon the jumping competition, which had seen Jiawen Zhao (CHN) - sixth on the hill in Friday’s Compact - again impress with a 126.5m effort and Atsushi Narita (JPN) take the lead with a 127.0m jump before the strong winds brought a halt.
