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Julian Schmid secures second place
Photo:
JURE MAKOVEC v AFP
First World Championship race, first World Championship medal: Nordic combined athlete Julian Schmid has celebrated the greatest success of his career so far.
In the competition on the normal hill, the 23-year-old was only beaten by the Norwegian defending champion Jarl Magnus Riiber, while Franz-Josef Rehrl from Austria secured bronze.
High flyer Schmid crowned his strong season, in which he had, among other things, won three World Cups.
"It means a lot to me," said Schmid, "it's a special moment to be on the podium on day X."
For the Nordic combined athletes of the German Ski Association (DSV) it was the second medal in the second competition in Planica.
On Friday, Nathalie Armbruster (Kniebis) took second place in the women's event.
Riiber back to his old self
Schmid was 19.4 seconds behind Riiber at the finish.
The Norwegian had recently been absent several times due to health problems and had to hand over his otherwise subscribed yellow jersey to Austria's Johannes Lamparter as the overall leader.
While Lamparter finished eleventh in the world championship race, Riiber was now in top form again at the climax of a mixed season for him.
The dominator of recent years successfully defended his title for the second time, and it was Riiber's fifth world title overall.
“This is stunning.
Now I've already achieved a goal for the season," said Riiber in the stadium.
Olympic champion Vinzenz Geiger (+41.4 seconds) in fourth and Manuel Faißt (+42.1) directly behind in fifth place completed the very good result for the DSV.
Record world champion Eric Frenzel (+49.1) also achieved a good result in tenth place.
For the combined athletes, it's going to be one after another in the Valley of the Schanzen.
Already on Sunday (10.30 a.m. jumping/3 p.m. cross-country skiing, TV: ZDF and Eurosport) men and women will start together in the mixed team competition, which is part of the World Championship program in Planica for the first time.
ast/sid/dpa
