Johannes Rydzek takes Nordic Combined nail-biter to extend World Cup lead

BySportsbeat

Updated 05/02/2017 at 14:39 GMT

Johannes Rydzek made it a double delight in Pyeongchang as he picked up his second Nordic Combined World Cup victory of the weekend – but it took a photo finish for him to edge out rival Eric Frenzel.

Johannes Rydzek

Image credit: Eurosport

The two have led from the front through the season, with Rydzek's Saturday victory seeing him retake the leader's yellow bib.

And he was able to consolidate his lead by the tightest of margins, securing his eighth World Cup of the season as both racers finished in 29:14.0.

Rydzek had only been able to rank sixth after the jump, starting the race 1:16 behind high-flyer Mario Seidl after amassing 108.0 points.

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It was Seidl who was to finish third behind the German pair, with his 127.1 points giving him the perfect start to the day, while Frenzel took second after the jumps.

That was where he was to finish too, locked alongside his compatriot as they had been in Seefeld, catching up with Seidl who had held on to his lead valiantly until halfway through the second lap.

The Austrian was still able to register his second podium in two days however, while further down the pack Korean Je-Un Park took his very first World Cup point by finishing 30th on home snow.

Narrow victory takes Rydzek to 1290 World Cup points, just 14 ahead of Frenzel, with the two opening up a significant gap on the rest of the field.

Fabian Riessle, who finished fourth in the second Olympic Games test event in Pyeongchang, rounds off a German top three on 899 points.

Sportsbeat 2017

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