Vinzenz Geiger won the Nordic Combined World Cup in Ramsau am Dachstein with a great performance. The 25-year-old made up 1:09 minutes behind the leaders in the ten-kilometer cross-country race on Saturday. After ski jumping on the normal hill, Geiger was still in 14th place. It was the first win of the season for the man from Oberstdorf.
“There was no plan behind it today. I just knocked everything out,” said Geiger after his tenth World Cup success on ARD. After the last three third places in a row, he “simply wanted to take the chance. I didn’t think I’d win – but it just went so well.” Second place went to Johannes Lamparter. The Austrian crossed the finish line five seconds behind Geiger. Third place went to Jarl Magnus Riiber, the leader in the overall World Cup.
Geiger: “I’ve constantly improved this winter”
Riiber was clearly in the lead after the jump – but when the man in the white cap shot past him during his “start-finish sprint”, the 53-time World Cup winner couldn’t believe his eyes. Dominator Riiber, himself one of the best runners in the scene, apparently did not go into the final 10 km part with the ultimate consequence in view of the apparently certain victory. “I wasn’t feeling too well either,” he said. Halfway through, Geiger had more than halved the gap, opened up in lap three of four and attacked uphill in the final lap – Riiber was no longer able to counter.
At the World Championships in Planica (February 21 to March 5) there should be a big Riiber-Geiger hit. “I’ve improved constantly this winter and have now reached the top,” said Geiger, who also won one of the two individual golds at the Olympics in Beijing after a fantastic race to catch up – the other went to Riiber. Behind Geiger, Julian Schmid (Oberstdorf) in eighth and Manuel Faißt (Baiersbronn) in ninth also made it into the top 10. Jakob Lange (Kiefersfelden) in eleventh and Fabian Rießle (Breitnau) in twelfth completed the strong German team result.
In the women’s category, 16-year-old Nathalie Armbruster had stormed onto the podium for the third time with third place. Industry leader Gyda Westvold Hansen from Norway remains unbeatable.