Medals update: Joergen Graabak wins gold in Nordic Combined individual Gundersen large hill/10km at Beijing 2022
The whole of Norway will be jumping after claiming a 1-2 finish in the Nordic combined discipline on Tuesday (15 February) at the National Ski Jumping Centre & National Cross-Country Skiing Centre at Beijing 2022.
The winner of the individual Gundersen large hill and 10km cross-country event, Joergen Graabak, crossed the line first in a time of 27:13.3 just ahead of a chasing three. One of those was his compatriot Jens Luraas Oftebro, who had the race of his life to claim silver (27:13.7).
Post race, Graabak said: "It’s a bit surreal to be honest, I really didn’t expect that but I had a really strong finish and was able to cross the finish line first so it’s really a big dream come true.”
Japan's Watabe Akito bagged bronze (27:13.9) just two seconds ahead of Germany's Manuel Faisst, who finished fourth, unable to claim a medal after Germany swept the podium in 2018. The defending Olympic champion, Johannes Rydzek finished down the field in 28th.
The next best finisher, Austria's Lukas Greiderer – already the bronze medallist in the individual normal hill at Beijing 2022 – finished behind Faisst with 2021 world champion in this discipline, Johannes Lamparter coming sixth.
The leader heading into the 10km race after the ski jump, Jarl Magnus Riiber, a silver medallist in the team event at PyeongChang 2018, had a healthy 45-second lead over the next athlete, but was always likely to struggle having just been released from COVID-19 quarantine. His task was made nigh on impossible after taking a wrong turn early in the race, losing 20 seconds from his lead. Riiber finished eighth.
*Individual Gundersen large hill/10km results: *
1- Joergen Graabak (NOR) – 27:13.3
2- Jens Luraas Oftebro (NOR) – 27:13.7
3- Watabe Akito (JPN) –