Relay World Champion Fabian Rießle (Breitnau) has rushed onto the podium with an energy performance at the combined World Cup in Val di Fiemme, Italy.
The Black Forest, only 15th after jumping, was third in the sprint of the pursuers. The victory went to the Norwegian Jan Schmid, who extended his lead in the overall World Cup.
“My goal was to get to the big group. That took a lot of energy,”Rießle said on ZDF:” But nobody really wanted to step on the gas, otherwise the Schmid would have gotten it.
Second place went to the Austrian Lukas Klapfer, record world champion Johannes Rydzek (Oberstdorf) came in fourth place. Rydzek, runner-up on Friday behind Jörgen Graabak from Norway, is also second in the World Cup ranking with 437 points behind Schmid (483).
With eighth place, junior world champion Vinzenz Geiger (Oberstdorf) as the fourth DSV combiner fulfilled the Olympic norm. On Saturday, the 20-year-old had won the team sprint with Olympic champion Eric Frenzel.
Frenzel, who holds the jumping record in Predazzo, had failed his jump on Sunday and could not get past 17th place despite a strong mileage.
Even worse was the experienced Björn Kircheisen (Johanngeorgenstadt) in 25th place (+2:49). In the fight for an Olympic ticket, the relay world champion will be very close. The 34-year-old will not be able to reach the two top 8 finishes, which are still missing from the standard, in just one individual race before the nomination in Chaux-Neuve next Saturday.