Norway fight back in Nordic Combined World Cup

Jørgen Graabak and Jarl Magnus Riiber responded to last week’s setback in style by taking men’s team sprint top spot in the Nordic Combined World Cup in Lahti.

The Norway pair missed out on the podium in the Val di Fiemme season opener but they weren’t to be denied in Finland with a superb performance.

Riiber outsprinted German favourites Fabian Rießle and Vinzenz Geiger to prevail by 0.8 seconds, while Japan’s duo of Ryota Yamamoto and Akito Watabe came home for an impressive bronze.

The ski jumping element of competition produced a surprise result with Mario Seidl and Bernhard Gruber combining for 230.7 points for top spot.

Gruber didn’t compete at all last year having undergone heart surgery while Austrian partner Seidl has recently recovered from back-to-back ACL tears.

Just four seconds separated the leading four teams, leading to an intense cross country competition, but it was the team who started 27 seconds back that took the spoils.

Victory wasn’t enough for Norway to claim the overall leader’s yellow jerseys, however, with Germany still atop the standings following two events.

Sportsbeat 2021