Nordic Combined 2016 - 2017 Discussion Thread

[hckošice 14,822]

11 minutes ago, Federer91 said:

 

Only for the home starts i suppose? 

 

5 minutes ago, dcro said:

 

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

 

maybe it´s for more competitions according his last answer  http://www.fis-ski.com/nordic-combined/news-multimedia/news/article=looking-forward-compete-with-the-top-athletes.html

[Federer91 2,793]

3 minutes ago, hckosice said:

 

 

maybe it´s for more competitions according his last answer  http://www.fis-ski.com/nordic-combined/news-multimedia/news/article=looking-forward-compete-with-the-top-athletes.html

 

Yeah, he saw Frenzel comming for his records and said "no-no". 

[hckošice 14,822]

Frenzel dominates, Hirvonen surprises in Lahti 

 

German superstar Eric Frenzel continues his winning streak from 2016 also in 2017 and takes the victory in the first of two Individual Gundersen events in Lahti. Behind him, Finnish youngster Eero Hirvonen skied to his first podium result (+4.1) after having already shown ambitions for the podium with a fourth place in Ruka earlier this year. Yellow bib bearer Johannes Rydzek lost the overall lead to Eric Frenzel but salvaged a third place today, finishing 26.4 seconds after the winner. 

 

Norwegian Jarl Riiber dominated the jumping round upon his return to the World Cup after an extended period of sickness. He jumped 128 metres from gate 7. After a coach request, this was two gates lower than the rest of the field. In the points total this meant 135.2 and a one minute and six second-head start on runner-up Eric Frenzel who landed at 125.5 metres (118.8 p.). Local hero Eero Hirvonen delighted the audience with the intermediate third position after showing 120.5 metres (113 p.) He had to to make up a time disadvantage of one minute and 29 seconds.

From ranks five onwards, the gaps between the athletes were quite small, putting Johannes Rydzek still in a striking distance for a podium rank with a time behind of two minutes and 34 seconds. In the top group for the race, strong jumpers Samuel Costa, Willi Denifl, Maxime Laheurte, Terence Weber and Leevi Mutru and Espen Andersen were present as well as Francois Braud and Switerland’s Tim Hug who all started between +1:38 and +2:30.

Legend Hannu Manninen began his comeback race from rank 37 and with three minutes and 52 seconds to make up, this shaped up to be a long way to the head of the field for the 38-year-old.

 

 

 

Full results Here

 

 

 

 

[Gianlu33 4,550]

Costa in on fire this weekend! Amazing 2nd place after the ski jumping for him! 

[hckošice 14,822]

Germany unstoppable: Rießle leads another sweep

 

Also in 2017, the German team seems to be in unstoppable shape. This time, it was Fabian Rießle who stepped up and took his fourth career victory. He distanced his teammates Eric Frenzel by 4.6 and Johannes Rydzek by 11.6 seconds, making it into yet another complete podium sweep for the German team. 

 

In the absence of jumping sensation Jarl Riiber, who only competed on one day upon his return to the World Cup, Eric Frenzel took a clear jumping win on the HS 130. 130.5 metres gave him 137.1 points and a six-second lead on Italy’s Samuel Costa who continued in strong shape also today. After a disastrous jump yesterday, Akito Watabe was back with 126 metres. 134.6 points put him 10 seconds behind Frenzel on the track.

The day already had the potential to be another glory day for the German team after the jumping part, as several athletes held good starting positions for the race. The hottest candidate for the win was Fabian Rießle who had a very good jump of 125.5 metres. 133.1 point meant only 16 seconds to catch up on his teammate Frenzel. Also veteran Björn Kircheisen positioned himself well and had 39 seconds to make up, Johannes Rydzek started at +0:59.

 

A leading group of five athletes formed around World Cup leader Frenzel on the first uphill out of the stadium and until the intermediate point of the race, Frenzel, Rießle and Watabe alternated with the leading work while Italy’s Samuel Costa and Austrian Franz-Josef Rehrl tried their best to hang on to the group. Ultimately, these two were not up to the speed of the leaders and so the two Germans and one Japanese plus Björn Kircheisen, who had closed the gap to the leading group in the first third of the race, continued the fight for the podium positions as a group of four.

As yesterday, Johannes Rydzek was the fastest man on the track and closed the 59-second gap to the group on the uphill going out of the stadium on the last lap. But Fabian Rießle was having none of it. By the intermediate time of the last lap, he accelerated the speed, broke away from Eric Frenzel, Akito Watabe and also Johannes Rydzek. While Frenzel was strong enough to fend Rydzek off, the Japanese fell to the greater stamina of the German, so that yet another complete German podium sweep became reality. Björn Kircheisen on rank five completed another great team result.

But also for the local heroes from Finland, the second competition of the weekend held great achievements. Ilkka Herola finished eight, Leevi Mutru from Lahti accomplished another career-best as tenth. Only Hannu Manninen did not get the chance to improve on his 18th place from yesterday as he did not make it through the qualification held before the jumping round in the morning. 91 metres and 66.4 points meant rank 52 and an early end to the day for the Nordic Combined legend.

 

 

Full Results Here

 

[hckošice 14,822]

Eric Frenzel claims fifth individual victory of the season

 

Eric Frenzel continues as the dominator of this season and delivered his next season win in a dominating fashion. Even with taking it slower on the last metres, he still finished 24.2 seconds ahead of teammate Johannes Rydzek, who battled his was on to the podium from position 25. Magnus Moan returns to the podium after an absence of over a year - his last triumph was in Ramsau am Dachstein in 2015. Moan finished 25.9 seconds behind the winner. 

 

Mario Seidl claimed a surprising jumping win as he beat dominator Eric Frenzel, who especially likes the hill in Predazzo, fair and square today. Both jumped from gate 16 and while Seidl had a fantastic, clean jump, which resulted in 132 metres, Frenzel had already landed at 126 metres. 133.1 points gave Seidl a 26-second advantage and the pole position for the race. Frenzel’s compatriot Terence Weber followed on rank three. He achieved 128.5 metres (121.9 p.), which meant 45 seconds to make up on the track.

 

Local hero Samuel Costa did not disappoint. He jumped 121 metres in difficult conditions and conquered the fourth position at the intermediate point of the race. He started only one second behind Weber. Magnus Krog, who had won in Val di Fiemme last year, followed on rank five and with 48 seconds to catch up, he certainly was one of the contenders for the podium again, together with Japan’s superstar Akito Watabe. With a jump of 122 metres (118.9 p.), Watabe had 57 seconds to make up in the race.

The dominators from Team Germany had to live with slightly worse starting positions today, as both Johannes Rydzek and Fabian Rießle did not have their best jumps. For them, times behind the leader of one minute and 45 seconds and two minutes and 36 seconds showed up on the result list. Rydzek was in the good company of Magnus Moan and Jørgen Graabak from Norway who both started at +1:43 and formed a fast group of pursuers.

The race turned into a Frenzel gala performance quite quickly when the bearer of the yellow bib closed the gap to leader Seidl upon leaving the stadium on the second lap. As Seidl had just returned from a forced break due to sickness, he had no hopes of staying with the German. From this point on, Frenzel skied a lonely race at the top and kept his pursuers at a distance of about 40 seconds for the entire duration of the race. In the end, he simply enjoyed his „victory lap“ while the fight for the remaining podium positions raged in full force behind him.

A group of ten pursuers had formed during the first lap and this group was joined by the fast train consisting of Rydzek, Moan and Graabak shortly after the halfway point of the race. The decision, however, was made on the final stretch. Going down into the stadium, Johannes Rydzek had the position in front of the group and was not to be beaten in a finish line sprint. Magnus Moan was overjoyed to celebrate his return to the podium with the third position after a very difficult start to the season 2016/17. His young teammate Espen Andersen claimed rank four, a career-best for the 23-year-old. Magnus Krog and Ilkka Herola decided ranks five and six in a finish line sprint and only the finish photo was able to declare Krog the winner of this duel. Local hero Samuel Costa collected another great result on rank seven, his third consecutive Top Ten position.

 

 

Full Results Here

 

 

[hckošice 14,822]

Team Sprint victory for Graabak/Andersen in Val di Fiemme

 

Norway has taken the first non-German victory of the winter of 2016/17. Espen Andersen had his debut on top of the podium together with teammate Jørgen Graabak. The duo beat the surprise runners-up Miroslav Dvorak and Tomas Portyk from the Czech Republic in a finish line sprint by just 0.3 seconds. Italy’s Alessandro Pittin and Samuel Costa conquered the remaining podium spot. They finished 0.9 seconds behind the winners. 

 

Largely due to a great jump by German youngster Terence Weber, Team Germany II held the pole position at the intermediate point of the competition. 130.5 metres was the longest jump of the day and combined with Rießle’s 123.5 metres, this gave the Germans 253.9 points. Their point total translated into a head start of five seconds before Espen Andersen and Jørgen Graabak followed.

Third place after the jumping event went to Japan II. Taihei Kato and Go Yamamoto did not disappoint on the hill and collected 246.1 points with jumps of 122 and 125 metres. This meant a handicap of 16 seconds at the start of the race.

While youngster Weber is not yet known as the strongest skier, Olympic Champion Jørgen Graabak was facing challenges due to an injured rib from a jumping crash in training in Lahti. This situation meant that teams coming from a little further behind saw a chance to catch up and fight for the podium. One of these teams was the local heroes Samuel Costa and Alessandro Pittin. While Pittin is known as one of the fastest skiers on the tour, Samuel Costa has shown stable top ten results on this and the past weekend and with 59 seconds to make up, they were not to be counted out.

The race turned into a true nail biter as a leading group with five athletes (including the leaders from Germany II, Norway I, Czech Republic I, Finland I and Japan II) formed quite quickly into the race. From the second exchange onwards, the leaders kept a slower speed with athletes alternating in the lead while the teams from France and especially from Italy I with Pittin and Costa gave their utmost to close the gap to this leading group. Pittin managed this at the fifth exchange to Costa and from this point on, the tactical games began.

All teams tried to conserve energy which resulted in the decision for the podium was being made on the last lap. Espen Andersen had exchanged to Graabak as the first of the leading group but attacks were made by Pittin and Graabak on the second lap without them being able to shake Ilkka Herola for Team Finland and Miroslav Dvorak for Team Czech Republic.

In a final finish line sprint, Graabak had the best position in the middle lane but had to take care not to lose by some minimal centimetres to an extremely strong Miroslav Dvorak to his right. Alessandro Pittin held off Herola and also Rießle, who did not manage to close the gap that had resulted on the last of Weber’s laps fully again and finished 11.6 seconds behind the winners.

Team Germany I (Lange/Faißt) improved to a final sixth position, the fastest team on the track was Team Fletcher for USA. They moved from position 16 to a final eighth rank.

 

 

Full Results Here

 

 

[hckošice 14,822]

Frenzel combines to victory in Val di Fiemme again

 

There is no beating Eric Frenzel these days! The 28-year-old claimed his sixth season victory on the final day in Val di Fiemme. Teammate Johannes Rydzek set another strong second place, recovering from position 16 after the jumping event. He arrived at the finish with a delay of 30.2 seconds. Japan’s Akito Watabe returned to the podium with position three. He finished 33 seconds behind Frenzel.

 

Frenzel astonished with his jumping skills in the morning in Val di Fiemme once again. He sailed to incredible 138 metres and even if the distance made it difficult to set a proper landing, he was still in the lead with a total of 141.1 points and 18 seconds on Japan’s Go Yamamoto. The young Japanese performs on an incredible level in the jumping hill as well, especially given the fact that he had a crash in the Qualification Round on Thursday. Japanese team leader Akito Watabe landed at a distance of 129 metres and with 133.5 points, this meant a 30 second time disadvantage for the start of the cross-country race.

Norwegian Jarl Riiber, who returned to competing today, had a fantastic jump as well but was disqualified due to a suit rule infraction. All of the strong German competitors were back on start today but at the intermediate point of the event, they had serious competition from Team Norway. Veteran Björn Kircheisen ranked sixth with one minute and three seconds to make up but was closely followed by Magnus Krog at one minute and four seconds. Another fast duo consisting of Olympic Champion Jørgen Graabak and Fabian Rießle had formed around the one minute and 17 second mark, while Johannes Rydzek followed at one minute and 26 seconds.

Also Eric Frenzel’s cross-country race was nothing short of a demonstration of his incredible level of performance today. The German skied his race and his advantage on the pursuers Akito Watabe and Mario Seidl never got smaller than 40 seconds. Just in the end, when Johannes Rydzek, who had stayed with a bigger pursuing group behind the Japanese and Austrian, accelerated the speed and Frenzel finished his race at a celebratory pace, the gap melted to 30 seconds at the finish line.

Out of the seven athletes battling for the remaining two podium positions on the last lap, the two strongest ones proved to be Rydzek, who is skiing in a stellar shape of his own but struggles slightly on the jumping hill, and Watabe, who fought tooth and nail to finally return to the podium after a third place in Ruka at the beginning of the season.

Jørgen Graabak, Fabian Rießle, Mario Seidl, Eero Hirvonen and Björn Kircheisen had to be satisfied with positions four to eight. Mikko Kokslien skied an amazing race and improved from position 32 to a final tenth rank with the fastest skiing time of 25:58.2

 

 

Full Results Here

 

[hckošice 14,822]

Rydzek on top, Frenzel unlucky in Chaux-Neuve

 

Johannes Rydzek has effectively ended Eric Frenzel’s winning streak in the Nordic Combined World Cup. Rydzek took the win with an advantage of 2.8 seconds on teammate Fabian Rießle at the finish line. Japanese Akito Watabe claimed rank three (+5.7). Eric Frenzel ended up on the fourth position after his pole broke in a racing manoeuvre with Johannes Rydzek on the last lap. 

 

Jarl Riiber claimed another jumping win. 112 metres from gate 13 meant a total of 139 points for the Norwegian, which put him 46 seconds ahead of American Ben Berend for the cross-country race. Berend had a great performance and also had 112 metres to show for but he jumped from gate 16. This gave him 127.5 points. Eric Frenzel set himself up promisingly with position three and had 53 seconds to make up on Riiber. 109.5 metres gave the German 125.8 points.

Candidates for the podium in Chaux-Neuve were Fabian Rießle who was happy with his 109.5 metre jump and intermediate sixth position. With 123.7 points, he had a disadvantage of one minute and one second and was definitely an athlete to watch on the track, as well as his teammate Johannes Rydzek who presents himself in a fantastic cross-country shape at the moment. One minute and 15 seconds were well within the realm of doable for the reining World Champion from Germany. Also teammate Björn Kircheisen with +1:09 and Olympic Champion Jørgen Graabak with +1:22 were not to be dismissed. Japan’s Akito Watabe, who claimed a podium last weekend and Berni Gruber from Austria, who returned from a sickness break, also had good starting positions five and seven (+1:01 and +1:02).

 

 

Full Results Here

 

[heywoodu 15,135]

Frendzel was MAD after the finish, throwing his pole to Rydzek