North.

Team Olympic champion Fabian Rießle has just missed his second victory of the season at the Nordic Combine Championships in Oslo. The 27-year-old took second place after a race to catch up in the cross-country ski run, but had to leave the victory at Holmenkollen to Akito Watabe. With his sixth win of the winter season, the Japanese rider further extended his lead in the overall World Cup.

After a good jump of eighth place, Rießle went into cross-country skiing, where he swallowed almost the entire field. After ten kilometres he was only 15.5 seconds behind Watabe, who had already won last year’s race, and third place went to the Austrian Mario Seidl. Second best German was Manuel Faißt (Baiersbronn) in sixth place.

The two German Olympic gold medallists Johannes Rydzek (Oberstdorf) and Eric Frenzel (Oberwiesenthal) had already lost every chance of victory in jumping and finished eighth and tenth. Rydzek had said that even a monster run won’t help me any more,”said Rydzek before the race.

Rydzek suffered a severe setback in the fight for the overall World Cup. With 632 points, the Allgäuer remains third behind Watabe (1050) and the Norwegian Jan Schmid (949), who finished fourth in front of King Harald on Saturday. Rießle (631) is now fourth, but there are still six races to go. The next one will follow on Tuesday in Trondheim.

The other DSV starters also fell short of expectations, especially on the hill. Routine Björn Kircheisen (Johanngeorgenstadt), who in Pyeongchang had not gone beyond the role of the spectator, had to make do with the 22nd place. space. Team Olympic gold medallist Vinzenz Geiger (Oberstdorf) even refused to start in cross-country skiing after a messed-up jump.

Mikko Kokslien had to say goodbye. The Norwegian graduated on his 33rd birthday. On his 50th birthday, the last competition of his career, he was waved off by his little daughter Vilja. For Kokslien, who had won World Cup silver medal with the team in 2015 and 2017, it was only 25th place.