North.

The German combined racers celebrated a double victory in the team sprint at Val di Fiemme. Germany II with Olympic gold medallist Eric Frenzel and junior world champion Vinzenz Geiger won in the final sprint a little surprisingly ahead of Germany I with the world champions Johannes Rydzek and Fabian Rießle. The arch-rival Norway, who did not enter the best cast, came in third.

After a jumping round and 2×7.5 km of cross-country skiing, Frenzel/Geiger had a lead of 0.7 seconds, while Geiger surprisingly beat Germany’s Rydzek athlete of the year in the sprint. Already after the jumping they had lead by 15 seconds and saved a small cushion from their actually stronger runners to the finish line. The Norwegians Magnus Moan and Mikko Kokslien (+39.2 seconds) won the pursuit sprint.

Rydzek and Frenzel had won gold in a duet at the World Championships in Lahti, but the team sprint is not part of the program of the Winter Games in Pyeongchang (9th place). till 25. February). Two individual competitions and the relay will be held in South Korea.

Germany’s arch-rival Norway only competed with a duo in the Fleimstal on Saturday and protected its best athletes such as the World Cup leaders Jan Schmid and Jörgen Graabak, who had won the first individual competition ahead of Rydzek on Friday. In addition, Jarl Magnus Riiber, who was scheduled for the team sprint, dropped out of the race at short notice.

Norway’s current strength is shown by the fact that relay Olympic champion Moan, the fastest runner in the field on Friday, and six-time World Cup winner Kokslien came from the second row.