Nordic Combined season closes as Rydzek captures first victory in Lahti

By Published On: March 12th, 2011Comments Off on Nordic Combined season closes as Rydzek captures first victory in Lahti

The World Cup nordic combined season came to a close today (March 12) with a final competition in Lahti, Finland as 19-year old German Johannes Rydzek won his first World Cup competition.

Germany continued its late season dominance of the FIS Nordic Combined World Cup as Rydzek and teammate Eric Frenzel finished 1-2 with a photo finish in the large hill, ahead of Austria’s hard charging Felix Gottwald. Billy Demong led the USA in 19th.

Rydzek, the World Championship silver medalist on the large hill, was 12th in the jump and paired up with teammate Frenzel to challenge World Cup leader Jason Lamy-Chappuis of France in a second half battle. Lamy-Chappuis had worked his way up from nearly a one minute deficit after the jump to take the lead at the midway point. The final kilometers were a battle, with Austria’s Gottwald challenging the leaders, posting the fastest cross country time.

“I never ever expected that the 2010/11 season would develop and end like this,” said Rydzek. “I wanted to be better than in the last winter, but, wow, Junior World Champion, three times Silver medal winner at the Worlds in Lahti, winner of a World Cup event – that’s amazing.”

Demong, meanwhile, was saddled with nearly a two-minute setback going into the cross country leg. He blazed ahead and quickly cut nearly a minute. Saturday’s winner Bjorn Kircheisen of Germany was just ahead of Demong and opted to go out hard to try to chase down Gottwald. Demong did not join the sprint, hanging back 10-15 seconds. Gottwald eventually went to the front, while Kircheisen dropped back. The group was not able to bridge up to the leaders with Demong finishing 44 seconds out in 19th with the eighth fastest time.

“It was still not quite a good enough starting point, said Nordic Combined Head Coach Dave Jarrett. “Billy skied well. I think everyone’s pretty cooked from World Championships.”

The Lahti Ski Games wraps up the FIS Nordic Combined World Cup season, which was dominated by Lamy-Chappuis (fifth today). He won 894-656 over Norway’s Mikko Kokslien, picking up four wins over the 13 event season. Gottwald was third.

For the USA, which had a dominant Olympics in 2010, it was a frustrating season with injuries and illness playing a key role.

“It was a challenging year,” said Jarrett. “We made the best of where we were going into World Championships and did a good job peaking. We just needed to start from a higher spot [after jumps]. From where it was with injuries and sickness, the goal was always Oslo. We did what we were planning on doing but just didn’t get any medals.”

With 23 career victories, Gottwald will now retire. 
 
“This was my last race, and there were some emotions knowing that this was my last competition jump, and this was my last 10 km Gundersen competition race,” Gottwald. “I’m grateful for my time in the Nordic Combined scene, I had good days and bad moments, I learned a lot – but now it is time to move on.”
 
For complete results download the PDF below.

Image by Gepa

Final Nations Cup Standings:
1. Austria 2568, 2. Norway 2230, 3. Germany 2148, 4. France 1729, 5. Japan 653, 6. Italy 629, 7. USA 322, 8. Switzerland 305, 9. Finland 251, 10. Czech Republic 208, 11. Slovenia 85, 12. Poland 5, 13. Estonia 1.

Rank Bib FIS Code Name Year Nation Result
 1  12  590 RYDZEK Johannes  1991  GER   24:35.3
 2  7  1050 FRENZEL Eric  1988  GER   24:35.3
 3  23  35 GOTTWALD Felix  1976  AUT   24:36.2
 4  11  1650 SCHMID Jan  1983  NOR   24:36.3
 5  8  610 LAMY CHAPPUIS Jason  1986  FRA   24:36.4
 6  5  1464 RUNGGALDIER Lukas  1987  ITA   24:37.2
 7  1  419 KLEMETSEN Haavard  1979  NOR   24:41.1
 8  10  1136 WATABE Akito  1988  JPN   24:41.5
 9  3  214 DENIFL Wilhelm  1980  AUT   24:41.6
 10  6  1152 RYYNAENEN Janne  1988  FIN   24:47.6
 11  4  606 BRAUD Francois  1986  FRA   24:54.4
 12  9  416 SLAVIK Tomas  1981  CZE   25:05.4
 13  20  1413 KROG Magnus  1987  NOR   25:08.6
 14  2  609 LAHEURTE Maxime  1985  FRA   25:10.1
 15  27  257 KIRCHEISEN Bjoern  1983  GER   25:16.6
 16  36  1149 KOKSLIEN Mikko  1985  NOR   25:18.7
 17  37  1029 PITTIN Alessandro  1990  ITA   25:18.9
 18  16  459 LACROIX Sebastien  1983  FRA   25:19.2
 19  28  222 DEMONG Bill  1980  USA   25:19.6
 20  25  1003 DVORAK Miroslav  1987  CZE   25:20.0
 21  24  349 HURSCHLER Seppi  1983  SUI   25:21.3
 22  33  19 MANNINEN Hannu  1978  FIN   25:21.9
 23  21  715 ORANIC Mitja  1986  SLO   25:22.3
 24  15  252 GRUBER Bernhard  1982  AUT   25:33.7
 25  34  137 KREINER David  1981  AUT   25:38.0
 26  22  727 KATO Taihei  1984  JPN   25:39.5
 27  18  1669 STORLIEN Gudmund  1990  NOR   26:00.0
 28  31  768 MINATO Yusuke  1985  JPN   26:03.5
 29  19  347 BEETZ Christian  1984  GER   26:03.9
 30  17  1418 BERLOT Gasper  1990  SLO   26:05.2
 31  13  1296 BOESL Wolfgang  1989  GER   26:27.9
 32  41  100002 GRAABAK Joergen  1991  NOR   26:36.3
 33  39  591 KAMMERLANDER Tobias  1986  AUT   26:45.2
 34  38  1067 FLETCHER Bryan  1986  USA   26:47.2
 35  32  215 CHURAVY Pavel  1977  CZE   26:58.3
 36  30  1434 JELENKO Marjan  1991  SLO   27:03.9
 37  46  1168 KARJALAINEN Joni  1987  FIN   27:11.3
 38  44  1439 FLETCHER Taylor  1990  USA   27:12.6
 39  29  1059 REUSCHEL Sebastian  1988  GER   27:14.8
 40  43  205 KOBAYASHI Norihito  1982  JPN   27:22.7
 41  50  592 KLAPFER Lukas  1985  AUT   27:24.3
 42  47  1486 PIHO Kail  1991  EST   27:40.7
 43  52  1796 JOHANSEN Truls Soenstehagen  1991  NOR   27:42.9
 44  45  203 HEER Ronny  1981  SUI   27:46.6
 45  35  1410 BAUER Armin  1990  ITA   28:01.3
 46  51  623 HUG Tim  1987  SUI   28:13.0
 47  48  1027 PESELJ Felix  1990  ITA   28:30.3
 48  40  1482 VAEHAESOEYRINKI Eetu  1990  FIN   28:41.7
 49  55  705 KAEHKOENEN Ville  1984  FIN   28:48.5
 50  54  1649 HENDRICKSON Nick  1991  USA   29:52.7
 51  49  1687 LEINONEN Mikke  1992  FIN   29:59.3
 52  26  1689 NABEEV Niyaz  1989  RUS   30:00.7
 53  53  100043 PELTOLA Jani  1994  FIN   31:11.9
Did not start
   54  8 STECHER Mario  1977  AUT   
   15  1485 NURMSALU Kaarel  1991  EST   
Did not finish
   42  1552 JAEAESKELAEINEN Jesse  1990  FIN   
   14  216 TAKAHASHI Daito  1980  JPN   
NCWCMarch12.pdf 93.8 KB

Share This Article

About the Author: Eric Williams