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Jarl Magnus Riiber (r.) Is expected at the finish by his teammates
Photo:
QUAY PFAFFENBACH / REUTERS
The discussion is as old as the history of the Nordic World Ski Championships.
After a second place, does the joy of the silver medal prevail or the disappointment of the missed gold?
The Nordic combined athletes from Germany also had to answer this question when they won the second medal for the German Ski Association (DSV) in the team competition.
Terence Weber, Fabian Rießle, Eric Frenzel and Vinzenz Geiger endeavored to emphasize their joy about silver.
That goes without saying, a medal at a home World Cup is something special.
And yet the disappointment was palpable and audible.
"We had a good season as a team and that's why we are already hoping for the gold medal," said Geiger, who, like his namesake Karl - a two-time ski jumping medalist - comes from Oberstdorf.
The DSV quartet had to admit defeat to Norway again.
With Espen Bjørnstad, Jørgen Graabak, Jens Lurås Oftebro and Jarl Magnus Riiber, the Norwegian team won the sixth gold medal at this World Cup in Oberstdorf - in the end the lead was 42.7 seconds.
Bronze went to the Austrian team.
After the jump, Germany was ten seconds ahead of Norway.
Thanks to Riiber, Norway wins three out of four World Cups
This development is not surprising, even if world champion Graabak did not want to know anything about being a favorite after the competition: “We were more of an outsider.
The Germans were very strong this season and they were slightly favored at their home World Cup. "
The results speak a different language.
Norway won the team competition at the World Championships in Seefeld two years ago.
In the two following seasons there were a total of 35 Nordic Combined competitions.
Individually, in a team, in a team sprint, from small jumping facilities as well as from large hills.
Led by Dominator Riiber, Norwegian combiners won 26 of these competitions - he was only not involved in one of these successes.
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The German silver medalists (from left): Vinzenz Geiger, Eric Frenzel, Fabian Rießle and Terence Weber
Photo:
QUAY PFAFFENBACH / REUTERS
Riiber had also won the individual competition on the normal hill last Friday - and suffered Frenzel's displeasure.
The 23-year-old exceptional combiner had taken little part in the management work and, according to Frenzel, "hid" in order to have the greatest reserves in the end.
That was a sign of a lack of respect.
Rießle classified the rivalry after the team competition as follows: “We're not best friends on the track, but we don't have any problems after the competitions.
It's often hot, but we don't see ourselves as enemies. «The dominance of the Norwegians gnaws at the self-confidence of the German combiners, who in the years before Riiber were hard to beat.
After the Olympic bankruptcy, Riiber puts everything to the test
The German combiners were not uninvolved in the Riiber performance explosion.
At the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, he took fourth place in both individual competitions.
The outcome on the large hill was particularly tragic for Riiber.
He ran onto the home straight with Rießle, Frenzel and Johannes Rydzek, the three Germans passed in the sprint and won all three medals.
Riiber was less than three seconds short of Olympic champion Rydzek.
He describes this defeat as a turning point in his career, after which he put everything to the test and changed a few things in preparation for the following season.
But that alone does not explain its success story.
"Riiber is an extreme talent," said Vinzenz Geiger on Sunday.
“He's one of the best combiners in history.
He brought ski jumping to another level in our sport. «Riiber still has many years ahead of him and is also a top favorite for the next winter games in Beijing next year.
With Oftebro, 20, the next great talent has already appeared among the world's best.
In recent years, Norway has managed to make better use of the large reservoir of young athletes in many winter sports.
"Norway lives the Nordic sports," says Geiger.
It should not go unmentioned that, since the Winter Games in South Korea, the Norwegian team has had to live with the accusation of relying much more heavily on the use of asthma sprays than other teams.
It is still unclear what effects this has on the performance of professional athletes.
Riiber doesn't care.
He is double world champion - and with the team sprint and the large hill there are two more opportunities.
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