Nordic Combined 2016 - 2017 Discussion Thread

[hckošice 13,217]

Johannes Rydzek makes it two in a row in PyeongChang

 

It came down to a photo finish between Johannes Rydzek and Eric Frenzel in the second Individual event in PyeongChang and like in Seefeld, Rydzek had the better end for himself. Austria’s Mario Seidl repeated his podium performance of yesterday and claimed a third place this time, finishing 19 seconds behind Rydzek and Frenzel.

 

Mario Seidl reigned supreme on the jumping hill again and set the first jump over 140 metres on this weekend. 142 metres and 127.1 points meant a 35-second head start on Eric Frenzel, who came in second with 131.5 metres (118.3 p.). Switzerland Tim Hug used very good conditions for a very good jump of 137 metres. This result put him in the intermediate third position, 45 seconds behind Seidl.

Manuel Faißt and Eero Hirvonen jumped 129 and 129.5 metres respectively, which gave them positions four and five for the race. Yesterday’s winner Johannes Rydzek breathed down their backs as he started from position six with a delay of one minute and 16 seconds after a 126 metre jump. Just three second later, Norwegian Jan Schmid went out on the track. Yesterday’s third-placed Fabian Rießle was a little further back with a delay of one minute and 43 seconds.

Mario Seidl valiantly defended his lead in the race until the mid-second lap when Eric Frenzel had made up his 35 seconds of time disadvantage from the start. Seidl and Frenzel skied together but behind them, Johannes Rydzek was not to be stopped once more. With the fastest cross-country time of 25:58.0, the World Cup leader caught up with the two and on the last ascent, Frenzel and Rydzek shook off Seidl. It came down to a finish line sprint which Rydzek decided in his favour. A slightly sick Eric Frenzel, who suffered from a cold, had to concede defeat.

Mario Seidl delighted in his third place and the supreme command of PyeongChang’s jumping hill, Fabian Rießle skied from position 12 to a final fourth rank, Manuel Faißt was fifth and Tim Hug finished sixth. Korean starter Je-Un Park conquered the first World Cup point of his career on positon 30.

 

 

Full Results Here

 

[hckošice 13,217]

Germany unstoppable again: Kircheisen wins in Sapporo

 

There is no end to the German domination of the Nordic Combined World Cup. This time, it was veteran Björn Kircheisen who stepped up and narrowly beat Japan’s Akito Watabe on home ground (+0.7). Norwegian Mikko Kokslien was overjoyed to return to the podium, finishing 32.1 seconds behind the winner.

Team Japan ruled supreme in the jumping part of the event with youngster Nagamine taking his next jumping victory. Starting with number two, the 19 year-old was not to be beaten by anybody else in the jumping round after setting 136 metres (135.9 p.). Coming closest to this performance was team leader Akito Watabe. Being the last starter of the round, he landed at 134 metres and 129.1 points meant a time behind of 27 seconds which made Watabe into the top favourite for the victory of the day.

Fellow Japanese Taihei Kato rounded off the great jumping performance of his team on rank three (135 m; 125.5 p.) and followed his teammates out on the track 42 seconds after Nagamine. Björn Kircheisen continued his series of good jumping performances this winter with 132.5 metres and 125.3 points. This gave him the task of catching up 42 seconds as well and set the stage for an exciting fight between Watabe and the German for the podium. Denifl followed on rank five with 48 seconds of delay. Other skiers to watch were Klemetsen on rank seven with one minute and six seconds to overcome, Tim Hug on rank eight (+1:07) and fast skier Mikko Kokslien with one minute and 40 seconds of delay.

Watabe and Kircheisen found each other early at the head of the field, when Kircheisen closed the 20 second gap he had on the Japanese during the first lap. After this, Kircheisen needed to rest and so Akito Watabe also had to do his share of leading work. Ultimately, the two stayed together for the whole duration of the race and the decision was made in turn on the final stretch when the German got the favourable position on the inside of the curve. Kircheisen gained some metres on Watabe, who was not able to counterattack on the final stretch. So the veteran set the 17th victory of his career, the first since his success in Almaty in 2013, while Watabe had to be satisfied with yet another second place.

Behind the two, a larger group of pursuing athletes were skiing together until fast Norwegian Mikko Kokslien caught up with Hug, Watanabe, Denifl and the others. Bringing young German Jakob Lange with him, Kokslien gave it his all as he went to claim the final spot on the podium. Also for Kokslien it has been a long time: his last individual podium was in Ramsau am Dachstein in 2014.

 

Lange achieved a career-best fourth place in the end, Swiss Tim Hug collected another good fifth position. Hideaki Nagai, Takehiro Watanabe and Yoshito Watabe completed a very strong Japanese result with four athletes in the Top Ten. Jumping winner Hisaki Nagamine ultimately ended up on the 21st position.

 

 

Full Results Here

 

[Finnator123 292]

So Germany is the "Norway" of Nordic Combined?

Also It's great that we have our best Nordic Combined guy back from the retirenment

[heywoodu 13,540]

Awesome to see Kircheisen finally get a win again, I still really hope he'll win a major gold medal in his impressive career.

 

Too bad though that even when the two dominators aren't there, Watabe still doesn't win  

[hckošice 13,217]

Home victory for Akito Watabe in Sapporo

 

Akito Watabe has been the one to end the German victory series in the winter of 2016/17 and finally claimed his long awaited home victory. The Japanese won in Sapporo, finishing 4 seconds ahead of Switzerland's Tim Hug. Manuel Faißt upheld the German team's honour on the third rank, 12.3 seconds behind Watabe.

 

Japanese jumping sensation Hisaki Nagamine truly earned the title of „King of the Hill“ with his third jumping victory in as many days.

 

Today, he showed amazing 138 metres which gave him a total of 128.8 points but only a narrow 4-second lead on Manuel Faißt. Faißt  hit his jump well and landed at 135.5 metres (127.7 p.). Veteran Håvard Klemetsen also returned to old jumping strength and had a jump of 135.5 metres which meant a time disadvantage of 16 seconds for the race.

Crowd favourite Akito Watabe had 134.5 metres to show for and followed the three athletes out on the track from position four with a delay of 25 seconds. Yesterday’s winner and third-placed Björn Kircheisen and Mikko Kokslien had slightly weaker jumps today but were able to start the race together from positions 13 and 14, one minute and 32 and 33 seconds behind Nagamine. Switzerland’s Tim Hug was performing well on the jumping hill again. 131.5 metres (120.9 p.) put him in position five at the intermediate point, 32 seconds behind the leader.

 

The three podium athletes were able to ski together for most part of the cross-country race. Manuel Faißt paired up with leader Nagamine for the first lap but they were soon joined by Akito Watabe and Tim Hug. By the halfway point, Håvard Klemetsen and Nagamine had dropped from the top group and after this, the trio continued to interchange in the lead.

On the last lap, there was no stopping Akito Watabe, who really wanted to achieve his home victory. Manuel Faißt had to concede defeat first while Tim Hug stayed with Watabe until the stadium. But in the last turn, exactly where he had lost the race against Kicheisen yesterday, Watabe just went for it and the Swiss proved to be no match. In the end, an overjoyed Watabe was able to collect the fruits of his labours and enjoyed the cheering crowd.

For the 28-year-old, this was the first victory after Oslo in March 2015 and an incredible series of second places in the season 2015/16. Hug was overjoyed to return to the podium after his maiden win in Chaikovskiy in 2014 and for Manuel Faißt, this was the second podium result of his career.

 

Behind the top group, Mikko Kokslien skied through the field again but today he was not able to come closer than 45 seconds. He finished on position four, followed by fellow Norwegian Klemetsen on five. Again, the Japanese team had a very strong team result with Watanabe, Nagai and Kato also finishing in the Top Ten.  

 

 

Full Results Here

 

[hckošice 13,217]

Akito Watabe collects his third King’s Cup in Oslo

 

Japanese superstar Akito Watabe has been the first athlete to beat the top German athletes in an individual event this winter and with this victory, the Lahti2017 silver medallist claimed his ninth World Cup victory and third triumph in Oslo. As at the past two times, he received the coveted King’s Cup out of King Harald of Norway’s hands.

 

Young Austrian Franz-Josef Rehrl clinched his first-ever jumping win in a competition round with a beautiful effort of 131 metres. A total of 119.9 points gave Rehrl a 3-second lead on teammate Mario Seidl, who continued his series of great jumping performances. 128.5 metres put him in the second position for the race. Veteran Björn Kircheisen impressed with 126 metres and the third intermediate position. After great World Championships, the 33-year-old seems to continue with strong results. He started his race 12 seconds after the intermediate leader Rehrl.

 

Behind the top three, the field’s strong jumpers took up the Top Ten positions. Maxime Laheurte, Willi Denifl, Akito Watabe, Francois Braud and Eero Hirvonen started their race between 14 and 46 seconds after Rehrl. The duel for the overall World Cup lead promised to be a tight one as well today. Eric Frenzel succeeded a little more on the jumping hill and showed 123 metres (109 p., rank nine), which gave him a start delay of 44 seconds. Johannes Rydzek struggled a little more, collected only 104.4 points for 120 metres and had to contend with a time disadvantage of one minute and two seconds.

 

A fast group of skiers formed around Rydzek at the one minute mark with Magnus Moan (+1:07), Fabian Rießle (+1:11) and Jørgen Graabak (+1:18). Mikko Kokslien and Alessandro Pittin formed another fast duo on a shared rank 35 (+1:45).

 

The leading athletes skied a tactical, slow race in the beginning and so Eric Frenzel and Akito Watabe closed the gap to the top group around Björn Kircheisen quickly. After that, it was all about keeping the speed high enough to keep the charging fast athletes, with Johannes Rydzek as their lead, at a distance without losing too much energy. The lead changed between athletes but ultimately,  Frenzel and Watabe were able to put some distance between them and Björn Kircheisen and Francois Braud on the last lap.

 

Johannes Rydzek skied for his life and tried to reach the top group but was not fully able to close the gap early enough to stay with his rival Frenzel and Watabe to fight for the victory. He did, however, close the gap to a very tired Björn Kircheisen and Francois Braud and while the Frenchman had to let go of the two Germans, veteran Kircheisen found a last reservoir of power and wrestled Rydzek down in a finish line sprint. 

 

In the end, Watabe won his sprint for the victory by 0.4 seconds and Eric Frenzel was able to celebrate with buddy Björn Kircheisen, who finished 14.1 seconds behind Watabe. Rydzek was 0.1 second behind him, Braud claimed rank five and Fabian Rießle and Manuel Faißt completed a fantastic German team performance with five athletes in the Top Ten on ranks six and nine. Fastest man on the track was Alessandro Pittin from Italy, who needed 22:39.5 for the 10 km and improved to position eleven.

 

 

Full Results Here

 

[hckošice 13,217]

Advantage Frenzel in Trondheim

 

Eric Frenzel has been able to take valuable World Cup points with a victory in Trondheim today and took the yellow bib from Johannes Rydzek. Finishing 19.2 seconds earlier, he overtook and distanced his rival to 14 points in the overall World Cup standings. Fabian Rießle completed another all-German podium on the third rank, +22.2 seconds behind Frenzel.

 

As Trondheim was experiencing heavy wind and snow showers, the ski jumping round had to be cancelled and yesterday’s PCR used. A beautiful jump of 138 metres had catapulted Austrian Mario Seidl to the top of the result list. With 136.2 points, Seidl had a head start of 16 seconds on Manuel Faißt from Germany. Faißt had landed at 135.5 metres.  The third rank and momentary advantage in the fight for the overall 2016/17 went to Eric Frenzel, who had a good jump of 132 metres in challenging conditions. 

 

Rival Johannes Rydzek had even more challenging conditions and ranked eleventh with 121.5 metres. This meant a time disadvantage of one minute and 23 seconds on the leader. Frenchman Maxime Laheurte and Japanese Akito Watabe impressed with good performances and claimed positions four and five. They started their races at +0:58 and +1:01 respectively.

 

Mario Seidl skied a lonely first lap but got company from Eric Frenzel and Manuel Faißt on the second of five laps. Behind the leading trio, a pursuing group formed with local hero Magnus Moan, Akito Watabe, Johannes Rydzek and Fabian Rießle. During the race, the winter returned full swing to Trondheim and the conditions were not easy with lots of wind, snow and a soft track. On the fourth lap, it got harder and harder for Magnus Moan as a tall and heavier athlete to follow the other three pursuers. 

 

In front, Eric Frenzel was able to shake teammate Faißt and Mario Seidl and for these two there was also no holding off Johannes Rydzek, Fabian Rießle and Akito Watabe. In the end, Rydzek mobilised all powere reserves but was not able to keep Eric Frenzel from winning and effectively taking the yellow bib from him. However, he minimised the damage by taking the second position. Fabian Rießle beat Akito Watabe in a finish line sprint. Mario Seidl and Manuel Faißt finished fifth and sixth. 

 

Local hero Magnus Moan claimed the final seventh rank but was still allowed to visit the Crown Prince of Norway together with Eric Frenzel and all overall winners of the FIS Youth Cup. Ilkka Herola, Francois Braud and Bernhard Gruber completed the Top Ten.

 

 

Full Results Here

 

[hckošice 13,217]

Frenzel wins the Schwarzwaldpokal for the second time

 

Eric Frenzel has decided the second-but-last World Cup of the season in his favour. In a dramatic finish that had rival Johannes crashing going into the final stretch, Frenzel took the win and 100 World Cup points to now lead with a margin of 54 points. Austrian Willi Denifl profited of Rydzek’s crash and claimed position two, +3.4 seconds after Frenzel. Rydzek reached the finish line 7.1 seconds after Frenzel.

 

After his brother Akito stood on top of the result list of yesterday’s PCR, it was Yoshito Watabe’s time to shine on the hill today. The Japanese claimed the intermediate lead and pole position for the race with a jump of 103.5 metres. 128.7 points translated into a nine-second head start for the 10 km cross-country race. Austrian veteran Willi Denifl ranked second with 102 metres, while Adam Cieslar of the Polish team surprised with a great jump of 105 metres to take the third intermediate position. (126.3 p.).

 

The duel between Frenzel and Rydzek was still wide open at the starting point of the race as both had good jumps on the hill. Frenzel left the start line 15 seconds after Watabe, Rydzek followed at +0:21 on the 7x 1.5 km track. Also in the contention for top ranks were Switzerland’s Tim Hug at +0:24, Akito Watabe at +0:33 and Norwegian Jan Schmid, who’s had good results in Schonach in the past years, at +0:38.

 

The race in Schonach took place with heavy winds blowing across the cross-country track in Wittenbachtal.  A big group of over 20 athletes formed quickly into the first of seven laps, making it almost a mass start. As none of the athletes wanted to lead in the windy conditions, the race was very tactical and very slow. Akito Watabe was visible on the head of the field for a while, interchanging with the Austrians Mario Seidl and Willi Denifl and the slow tempo was kept up until the very last lap. 

 

On the sixth lap, the leading group was reduced to seven athletes but soon later, the slow speed brought the rest of the group back again. On the last lap, veteran Denfil tore open a gap and at first it looked like nobody wanted to pursue him. Denifl went away from the group but at the last uphill, the fight between Frenzel and Rydzek erupted fully, catapulting the leading Frenzel and pursuing Rydzek past the Austrian. 

 

Going on to the final stretch, Frenzel picked his lane and when Rydzek wanted to go to the other lane, he came to close, touched Frenzel’s ski end and crashed spectacularly, injuring his nose and lip in the process. So the yellow bib bearer won his second Schwarzwaldpokal in a row and gained valuable points in the overall standings. Denifl took advantage of Rydzek’s crash and finished second. Rydzek minimised the damage by finishing third but was visibly shaken and upset over the  probable loss of his first overall trophy.

 

Akito Watabe finished fourth and caugh up 46 points in the overall on third-placed Fabian Rießle, who only crossed the finish line as 27th today. Jan Schmid was fifth, Mario Seidl sixth and Adam Cieslar sensationally finished seventh.

 

 

Full Results Here

 

[dcro 10,179]

Beautiful snow in Schonach.

 

[hckošice 13,217]

The incredible Eric Frenzel wins the day and his fifth overall

 

Once more, Nordic Combined superstar Eric Frenzel has made history. He won the last event of the season, making it a double victory in Schonach, and also his fifth consecutive overall. In the end Frenzel beat rival Rydzek by 125 points. Francois finished second in the event, +7.7 seconds after Frenzel, Japanese Akito Watabe was third (+11.2). With this result, he also captured rank three in the overall from Fabian Rießle with 1086 over 1069 points. 

 

Local hero Tobias Simon got to enjoy a lot of time in the Leader Board as the 24-year-old German won the jumping round with bib number three. 104.5 metres proved to be unbeatable today and 128.2 points gave Simon a head start of 27 seconds on runner-up Johannes Rydzek for the race. Rydzek did not give up on the overall World Cup and announced his intentions for the victory of the day with a 101.5 metre jump. 121.5 points meant starting position two and 30 seconds of advantage on Eric Frenzel, who ranked eighth after the jump.

 

Jan Schmid repeated a strong jumping result and finished third today. 101 metres and 121.3 points meant a starting time of +0:28 after Simon. Young athletes were out in full force in the top ten of the jumping part: Mario Seidl was fourth, Vinzenz Geiger fifth, Espen Andersen sixth, Samuel Costa seventh, Leevi Mutru ninth and Antoine Gerard tenth. 

 

Local hero Fabian Rießle unfortunately fell after landing a good jump of 102 metres. He had to start from position 38 with a delay of one minute and 51 seconds, while his rival for the third position in the overall, Akito Watabe, ranked 16th with 94.5 metres and a time behind of one minute and 14 seconds.  The situation before the race was tense: If Rydzek took the win, Frenzel would have to finish at least fourth to secure his fifth consecutive overall.

 

During the race, it first looked like Eric Frenzel would speculate to rank fourth or better as the defending overall champion let Johannes Rydzek ski away at the head of the field. First accompanied by Jan Schmid, Rydzek held the lead for the first seven kilometres of the race. After Schmid dropped off, Frenzel switched into higher gears and also went for the victory of the day. Looking strong, he caught Rydzek, who had nothing left to fight against Frenzel. In the end, it was a triumphal finish for the Nordic Combined legend, while a tired Rydzek dropped back to position nine in the end.

 

Francois Braud used the moment to capture the second place, beating out Akito Watabe, who still beamed with this result as it meant he secured the overall third rank. Rival Fabian Rießle finished 15th in a photo finish against Jørgen Graabak. Finland's youngster Eero Hirvonen collected another great fourth place. 

 

 

Full Results Here

2016/17 World Cup Final Standing Here

2016/17 Nations Cup Final Standing Here