Combiner Manuel Faißt, in the absence of the German Pyeongchang riders around record world champion Johannes Rydzek and Olympic champion Eric Frenzel, took third place in the World Cup in Hakuba, Japan, and thus reached the third podium position in his career. The 24-year-old had to admit defeat on Saturday only local hero Akito Watabe and the Norwegian Jan Schmid.
Watabe, already superior winner of the Seefeld Triple last weekend, won after a jump and ten kilometres in the cross-country ski run with a 1:12.6-minute lead over Schmid and thus extended the lead in the overall World Cup ahead of the Norwegian.
Faißt was 1’22 “behind Watabe. The latter and Schmid were the only top-notch combiners to start in Hakuba, where another individual competition is scheduled for Sunday morning.
Second best German was Terence Weber (Geyer) in ninth place. David Welde (Sohland) finished 18th, Tobias Simon (Breitnau) was 21st, Tom Lubitz (Klingenthal) finished 36th among only 36 starters.
In Oberstdorf, Germany’s Rydzek, Frenzel, Fabian Rießle, Vinzenz Geiger and Björn Kircheisen, all of whom have been nominated for the Olympic Games, will complete the final preparation phase for the Olympic Games.
South Korea is on 14. In February, the first Olympic decision was taken with the Normalschanze competition.