Olympic skier misses chance at gold medal after wrong turn

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Norwegian skier Jarl Magnus Riiber had high hopes coming to Beijing for the 2022 Winter Olympics, but a positive COVID test and one wrong turn have dimmed that hope.

Riiber, a three-time world champion, was leading by nearly a minute in the Nordic combined large hill/10km event on Tuesday when he took a wrong turn on the course, heading toward the finish line instead of looping around for the final two laps.

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"I was actually quite focused on the technique and the pace, and I was staring down and suddenly when I was raising the head, I see the finish line and then I thought, okay — this is not my Olympics," he told reporters, via Reuters. 

Norway's Jarl Magnus Riiber competes in the Individual Gundersen Large Hill/10km, Ski Jumping Competition event, on Feb. 15, 2022 at the Zhangjiakou National Ski Jumping Centre, during the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games. 

But Riiber’s mistake was more of a physical issue than a mental lapse. He tested positive upon his arrival in Beijing and was only cleared on Monday 

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"It was more of a physical problem," he said. "When I'm in normal shape, the mental part is normally there. I was not able to ski normal. I was feeling quite bad.

Jarl Magnus Riiber of Team Norway celebrates competes during Individual Gundersen Large Hill/10km, Ski Jumping Competition Round on day 11 of 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics at The National Cross-Country Skiing Centre on February 15, 2022 in Zhangjiakou, China.  (Photo by Lars Baron/Getty Images)

"I had two days with very hard symptoms with corona and I was starting to train a little bit, building it