Total podium sweep for Germany: Frenzel,
Rydzek & Kircheisen - Sandra Volk
Team Germany ruled supreme at today’s Individual
Gundersen competition in Oberwiesenthal with Johannes
Rydzek taking the win and Eric Frenzel and Bjo"rn
Kircheisen completing the podium on ranks two and
three. Rydzek put 3.7 seconds between himself and
local hero Eric Frenzel, Bjo"rn Kircheisen
finished 6.8 seconds after Rydzek.
Local hero Eric Frenzel had been in the lead after
the ski jumping part on his home hill, the HS 106
Fichtelbergschanze. With 103 metres and a total
of 118.9 points, Frenzel took the first place in
the intermediate ranking ahead of Austrian veteran
Christoph Bieler who proved once more that he is
a top jumper of the field with his 104.5 metres.
With 118.4 points, he started just two seconds after
Frenzel in the roller-ski race. Fellow veteran Ha*vard
Klemetsen from Norway held onto an intermediate
third rank with 104 metres and 116.8 points which
meant 8 seconds of time behind.
Johannes Rydzek underlined his good shape from yesterday’s
Team Sprint with another jump over 100 metres (101.5;
114.5 m) and started 18 seconds after Frenzel. Czech
youngster Tomas Portyk cemented his reputation as
an excellent jumper with 99 metres and rank five,
followed by a strong Bjo"rn Kircheisen who
set himself up with 26 seconds of time behind on
Frenzel. The longest jump of the day, however, went
to Russian sensation Evgeniy Klimov who landed at
106 metres but couldn’t stand his jump and fell
back to a 30th rank.
Today’s jumping round was interrupted briefly by
some wind breaks and also the overall ranking was
further apart than in the Team Sprint. Only the
first ten athletes started within one minute of
each other. Strong skiers Alessandro Pittin, Magnus
Krog and J?rgen Graabak had weaker jumps but formed
a dangerous group at the back of the field with
time behinds of +2:00, +2:12 and +2:31. But in the
difficult conditions with rain and hail at the beginning
of the race, the first three ranks were up for grabs
between the first four athletes only.
The three Germans Rydzek, Frenzel and Kircheisen
and Austrian Christoph Bieler formed a leading group
in the second round which stayed together for the
whole race. In contrast, for Superstar Jason Lamy
Chappuis things went well on the roller-ski track
and he improved an intermediate 12 rank to a final
fifth position. But in the fight for the victory,
Johannes Rydzek proved to be a hard athlete to beat
on the final metres again and took the win from
his teammates Frenzel and Kircheisen who pushed
Austrian Christoph Bieler off the podium. Young
Czech Tomas Portyk proved his good shape once more
and finished sixth.
Now, the Nordic Combined athletes will travel to
Villach, Austria for one more Individual Gundersen
competition on Wednesday.