First Mixed Team in WC history in Val di Fiemme
Gyda Westvold Hansen, Yellow fighter, as D’Artagnan
Austria and Germany knock out by Norway; ok Japan
Tomorrow, new competitions for either men and women
Norway, Austria and Germany. What else? This is what happened in Val di Fiemme (Italy) for the first Nordic Combined World Cup Mixed Team competition.
The day started in Predazzo with the ski jumping in the morning. Temperatures below zero, a blue sky, the race was immediately driven by Norway: second position for Jens Oftebro, also for Mari Leinan Lund, Gyda Westvold first and Jörgen Graabak fourth. Yet, success was not taken for granted, since Austria threatened, above all with Slamik.
Yoshito Watabe (JPN) performed the longest jump with 101.5 meters. His brother Akito and Yuna Kasai got very close to Austria, both with a second position. Then Germany, Slovenia and Italy.
In the afternoon, the show kept on in cross country stadium of Lago di Tesero. Best fraction time to the American Fletcher, starting with a disadvantage of more than 2’. Yoshito Watabe is left behind Oftebro (NOR) and Fritz (AUT), with Lange (GER) coming too. Austria is flying, runs away from Norway and Japan suffers Germany’s attack.
Lisa Hirner (AUT) counts on an advantage of 14’’. Leinan (NOR) struggles to keep the rhythm and the German Haasch tries to keep on. Then, Gyda Westvold, World Cup leader, shows her teeth and takes the lead. History is written. Graabak handles the advantage, Austria keeps its positions and Germany seems to be okay with a third place.
Podium is right; Val di Fiemme takes a respectful picture of Nordic Combined for the world. Yet, some rightful considerations have to be made too. Riiber did not compete with Norway, Austria let Rehrl and Lamparter to rest, no Frenzer and Riessle were there for Germany, Costa & C. are in quarantine. Anyway, there are no victories with if and but…
Tomorrow is time for men Individual Gundersen and women Mass Start. Ski jumping for men in Predazzo at 9.30 a.m., then Gundersen 10 km in Lago at 12.30 am. At 13.30 is time for 5 km women mass start, finally ski jumping at 6 pm in Predazzo. Such a long and hard day, but Fiemme World Cup committee well knows competitions’ stress... The show must go on!
Info: www.fiemmeworldcup.com
Mixed Team Gundersen HS106 / 5-2.5-2.5-5 km
1 NORWAY (Oftebro J.L., Leinan Lund M., Westvold Hansen G., Graabak J.) 40:55.5; 2 AUSTRIA (Fritz M., Hirner L., Slamik A., Greiderer L.) +10.5; 3 GERMANY (Lange J., Haasch C., Nowak J., Weber T.) +23.9; 4 JAPAN (Watabe Y., Kasai Y., Nakamura A., Watabe A.) +31.2; 5 ITALY (Buzzi R., Sieff A., Gianmoena V., Pittin A.) 2:00.9; 6 USA (Fletcher T., Brabec A., Malacinski A., Shumate J.) 2:35.3; 7 SLOVENIA (Vrhovnik V., Verbic S., Volavsek E., Brecl G.) +2:59.2; 8 RUSSIA (Mastiev S., Nadymova S., Gladikova S., Milanin A.) +5:27.1
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