The dream season for Norway’s Jarl Magnus Riiber continued in the Nordic Combined World Cup, winning his sixth and seventh straight races on the season in Otepaa (EST).
Riiber has won all but one of the World Cup races this season – he was second in the opener – and now has a 680-401 lead over German Johannes Rydzek in the seasonal standings.
In Otepaa, in the first Nordic Combined World Cup ever held in Estonia, Riiber won both events off a 97 m hill, followed by a 10 km cross-country race. He won the first event over last year’s World Cup champion, Akito Watabe (JPN), and then finished more than 20 seconds ahead of Rydzek, with Watabe third.
Eight races have been completed out of 21 in this World Cup season, but Riiber – who has a best career World Cup finish of 13th two seasons ago – has been a revelation. Summaries:
FIS Nordic Combined World Cup
Otepaa (EST) ~ 5-6 January 2019
(Full results here)
Gundersen 97 m hill/10.0 km I: 1. Jarl Magnus Riiber (NOR), 23:18.1; 2. Akito Watabe (JPN), 23:21.3; 3. Martin Fritz (AUT), 23:23.1; 4. Mario Seidl (AUT), 23:23.2; 5. Franz-Josef Rehrl (AUT), 23:25.9.
Gundersen 97 m hill/10.0 km II: 1. Riiber (GER), 22:31.1; 2. Johannes Rydzek (GER), 22:52.0; 3. Watabe (JPN), 23:14.7; 4. Vinzenz Geiger (GER), 23:14.8; 5. Seidl (AUT), 23:15.1. Also: 19. Taylor Fletcher (USA), 23:49.0.
