Nordic Combined 2016 - 2017 Discussion Thread

[hckošice 15,025]

Frenzel crowns triple German victory in Lillehammer

 

 

The first Individual Gundersen event in Lillehammer ended with a triple victory for Team Germany. Superstar Eric Frenzel was back on top and stopped teammate Johannes Rydzek by 15 seconds in the end. The remaining spot on the podium was taken by Fabian Rießle. He crossed the finish line 25.8 seconds after Frenzel. 

 

Johannes Rydzek surprised with the victory in the jumping round after his new mastery of the jumping technique met with a little bit of head wind, resulting in a 104.5 metre jump, the longest jump of the day by 2.5 metres. 144 points put Rydzek in the pole position and gave him 14 seconds of head start on Japanese superstar Akito Watabe who showed 102 metres (104.4 p.) Espen Andersen stepped up to be a worthy stand-in for his sick teammate Jarl Riiber and captured the third intermediate position with 101 metres and 138.2 points, putting him 23 seconds behind Rydzek.

The race shaped up to become another festival for the German team with Eric Frenzel, Fabian Rießle and Björn Kircheisen all positioning themselves very well. Frenzel ranked fourth and started into the race just one second after Andersen. Kircheisen and Rießle ranked tenth and eleventh respectively and had to make up 56 and 59 seconds on their leading teammate.

At first, the cross-country part seemed to be a clear affair with Johannes Rydzek looking strong in three first laps but apparently, the World Cup leader had started his race too fast. His teammate Eric Frenzel, who had been skiing together with Japan’s Akito Watabe and Norwegian Espen Andersen for the first part, caught up with the yellow bib and passed Rydzek on the last lap. Frenzel was in an unbeatable shape and so his teammate had to concede defeat but was still satisfied with his second rank.

Behind the pursuers Frenzel, Watabe and Andersen, Björn Kircheisen and Fabian Rießle came closer and closer as to be expected of the two fast skiers. Ultimately, only Rießle passed Andersen and in a finish line sprint also Akito Watabe to capture the third position. Watabe had to be satisfied with the fourth position in the end, Kircheisen stole the fifth place from local hero Andersen who still posted a career-best individual result with rank six one day after his first-ever podium result with the team yesterday.

Espen Andersen’s teammates Jørgen Graabak and Mikko Kokslien also entered the Top Ten today but the German team performance was amazing with youngsters Vinzenz Geiger and Manuel Faißt also ranking in the Top Ten, taking the count of Germans to six in the best ten.

 

 

Full Results Here

 

[hckošice 15,025]

German reign continues with second Frenzel-win

Frenzel and Kircheisen teamed up for the win in Lillehammer

 

Again, it was Eric Frenzel who perfected a glory weekend in Lillehammer by taking the third victory in as many days. He finished 10.8 seconds ahead of his team- and roommate Björn Kircheisen after the duo had demonstrated the perfect teamwork at the head of the field. Behind the two, Jørgen Graabak finished third (+23.4) and took the remaining spot on the podium. 

 

Takehiro Watanabe was the leading man after the jumping event. The young Japanese landed at 138 metres and his point total of 145.3 points gave him 5 seconds of head start on superstar Eric Frenzel who had 139 metres and 144 points to show for. Björn Kircheisen continued with his fantastic jumping performances on rank three (138.5 m; 143.6 p.), closely followed by Akito Watabe on rank four. He and Kircheisen started into the race seven and eleven seconds after Watanabe.

Not to be underestimated were Norwegians Jørgen Graabak and Magnus Krog who delivered on the jumping hill today. Graabak was a hot contender for the podium with 137 metres (140.5 p.) and just 19 seconds to make up but also teammate Magnus Krog as well as Germans Johannes Rydzek and Fabian Rießle had good positions with time behinds of 54, 51 and one minute and one second to catch up. So at the start of the race it looked like the big fight between Germany and Norway was back on in the fifth event of the season.

Following the race during the first lap, it became clear quite quickly that the long-term roommates Eric Frenzel and Björn Kircheisen had something against a big fight for the podium results. Almost a picture-book example for perfect teamwork, Frenzel and Kircheisen exchanged the lead every 500 metres and worked in perfect sync to keep the fast pursuers off their back. Jørgen Graabak tried his utmost but was not able to close the 20-second gap to the leaders in the end.

Japan’s Akito Watabe was on course for the fourth rank again but was overtaken by Rydzek and Rießle on the last lap, so that it was four Germans among the first five athletes in the end. Behind these five, the rest of the Top Ten was more evenly spread than in yesterday’s event with Finn Eero Hirvonen securing another great seventh position, Francois Braud capturing rank eight for France, Bryan Fletcher with a long overdue Top Ten finish for Team USA and Austrian youngster David Pommer extending his impressive record of Top Ten positions in this season with another tenth place.

 

 

Full Results Here

 

 

[hckošice 15,025]

Rydzek returns to his winning ways in Ramsau

 

World Cup leader Johannes Rydzek has returned to the top of the podium in the Austrian venue of Ramsau am Dachstein. After an intense fight until the finish line, Rydzek proved to be the stronger man in a duel with teammate Fabian Rießle (+1.5). Eric Frenzel claimed the third position (+8.7) and Vinzenz Geiger made the German glory day complete with a fourth place.

 

Frenzel ruled supreme in the ski jumping part of the event and had a fantastic, long jump of 100.5 metres. His 138.9 points gave him the pole position for the race, two seconds ahead of local hero Mario Seidl who showed 99.5 metres (138.4 p.). Johannes Rydzek contined to display his improved jumping skills with 97 metres and the intermediate third position which put him 10 seconds behind his teammate.

In true Ramsau-style, the start list for the race did not show any bigger gaps. All 50 athletes started within two minutes and eight seconds, promising an intense and tactical race. Another German triple victory seemed a distinct possibility with Fabian Rießle jumping to rank seven with 96 metres. He had to make up 30 seconds on his teammate Eric Frenzel and had Japanese superstar Akito Watabe hot on his heels who had a time behind of 31 seconds. Espen Andersen and Magnus Krog were the best Norwegians on ranks five (+0:15) and twelve (0:40).

The race was the expected close affair but in the end, a top group of seven athletes could tear a small gap between them and a large group of athletes finishing around one minute behind the leaders. This large group of athletes was skating in close proximity, even resulting in one mass traffic jam at the bottom of the large uphills.

The top athletes at the head of the field were undisturbed by these kind of shuffles and for the first part, Eric Frenzel and Mario Seidl tried to stay ahead of their pursuers. But already on the second lap, the tempo proved to be to high for the young Austrian and also Eric Frenzel was eventually caught by his teammates Johannes Rydzek and Fabian Rießle. On the last lap, Frenzel even had to let go of these two and it was Rydzek and Rießle who decided the victory between themselves. Their young teammate Vinzenz Geiger skied an enormously strong race again and finished on a career-best fourth, resulting in the first German quadruple victory since 1987 (Lahti).

The young generation of up and coming athletes claimed many of the top ten positions again with Norway’s Espen Andersen finishing fifth, David Pommer on rank seven and Mario Seidl on eight. Bernhard Gruber returned to the top results with rank nine and veteran Björn Kircheisen claimed another respectable tenth position.

 

 

Full Results Here

 

 

 

[Quasit 865]

How about if this sport was dropped? I'd approve.

(But of course, I don't care about winter sports anymore. )

[Federer91 2,860]

8 minutes ago, Quasit said:

How about if this sport was dropped? I'd approve.

(But of course, I don't care about winter sports anymore. )

 

Damn, don't do that, Germany will have a heart attack. 

[hckošice 15,025]

Frenzel leads next German podium sweep in Ramsau

 

The incredible German success streak continues also on the second day in Ramsau am Dachstein. Again, Team Germany took all the available podium positions with Eric Frenzel claiming his third victory, Fabian Rießle finishing 0.8 seconds later on his 26th birthday and youngster Vinzenz Geiger claimed his career-first podium 23.4 seconds after Frenzel. 

 

Ramsau proved to be a good place for local hero Mario Seidl. After sensationally winning the jumping round at this World Cup debut here in 2012, the 24-year-old repeated the feat today with a jump of 97 metres and 129.5 points. German youngster Vinzenz Geiger keeps getting better and better and captured the second intermediate position today after showing 95.5 metres (127.1 p.). Eric Frenzel did not have the über-jump from yesterday’s competition but still ranked third with 93 metres and 125.2 points.

For the cross-country race, this meant a 10-second head start for Mario Seidl on Geiger and 17 seconds on Eric Frenzel. Fabian Rießle lurked on an intermediate fourth position and had only 23 seconds to make up to the head of the field, making him into the big favourite for the race. But today, Norway’s Olympic Champion Jørgen Graabak was within striking distance with a time disadvantage of 41 seconds after jumping 92 metres. Yesterday’s winner Johannes Rydzek had 55 second to make up and was starting from position 16.

The race and the fight for the top results was an affair of six athletes: Frenzel, Rießle, Geiger, Akito Watabe, Mario Seidl and Espen Andersen formed a group and worked together for long stretches of the race, with especially Frenzel and Rießle exchanging the leading work. This strategy paid off for the six and the fast pursuers Graabak and Rydzek were not able to come closer than 30 seconds.

Going into the last lap, Frenzel and Rießle had managed to tear a gap to the other four athletes of the leading group and so it was clear that the top two results would be going to Germany again. Frenzel used all his experience and adapted his strategy from yesterday to stay more with the group and save some energy which helped him to beat excellent finisher Fabian Rießle on the finish straight. The birthday boy was not disappointed for too long, though, and went home with two second places under his belt.

Team youngster Vinzenz Geiger is in stellar shape at the moment and beat local hero Mario Seidl in a finish line sprint, making the German glory day complete for the second time this weekend and the third time this season. Akito Watabe claimed rank five and Espen Andersen did not have enough energy left to fight off Johannes Rydzek and Jørgen Graabak in the end but claimed another Top Ten result with rank eight. 

 

 

Full Results Here

 

[dcro 10,210]

Hannu Manninen is back from the retirement.

[Federer91 2,860]

3 minutes ago, dcro said:

Hannu Manninen is back from the retirement.

 

Only for the home starts i suppose? 

[dcro 10,210]

8 minutes ago, Federer91 said:

 

Only for the home starts i suppose? 

 

Well, it doesn't seem like he lost much of his ski speed.

[Gianlu33 4,693]

Finally a good results for Italy in the nordic combined! 5th place for Costa