By Mitch Phillips
LONDON (Reuters) – It is a long time since Norway was the dominant force in Nordic combined at the Winter Olympics but Jarl Magnus Riiber, desperate to make up for two fourth-placed finishes in Pyeongchang, looks well-placed to restore their position
Riiber did stand on the podium four years ago as part of Norway’s silver medal-winning team but that was their only medal from a Games dominated by Germany, who won all three available golds and had a clean sweep in the large hill event.
Looking up to the top step the Norwegians could have been forgiven for thinking “that used to be us”. The country virtually had the sport to themselves in its early years, winning seven of the first nine golds and sweeping all 12 medals at the first four Games.
It has been thin gruel since, however, with the last Norwegian gold in the original normal hill event coming in 1998. There have been other successes in the large hill and team events, but Riiber is poised to bring back the glory years.
Well-known as a brilliant teenage performer, he had just turned 20 at Pyeongchang and lacked the endurance to cling on to a medal place in the two individual events.
That soon changed, however, as he set about taking an iron grip on the sport, scooping world championship medals galore and topping the World Cup standings for the last three years.
He began this season by winning seven of the first eight World Cup events before a back injury struck him down and 20-year-old Austrian Johannes Lamparter took full advantage by winning three of the last four events in January to mark himself down as a strong Olympic medal contender.
But if Riiber is fully fit for Beijing it is hard to see beyond him for gold in both individual events. His superb ski jump technique routinely earns him a huge head start that makes him uncatchable over the 10km cross-country race, where he is now stronger and technically better than four years ago.
Although he will start as strong favourite, however, those with a betting bent should be wary of piling on their life savings.
Data company Nielson Gracenote, who produce medal projections for major events, say Nordic combined is the toughest winter sport to predict, with only 39% of medals at world championships and Olympic Games since 2009 being been won by competitors ranked in Gracenote’s top three. That contrasts markedly with ice hockey, figure and speed skating, where the predictions are 65% and above.
Likely to be in the mix is Germany’s Eric Frenzel, who retained his normal hill title, took a team gold and a bronze in the large hill in Pyeongchang.
He has struggled to reproduce that form at world level since but is a proven big-day performer and, with six Olympic medals, is one away from matching the Nordic combined record of seven set by Austrian Felix Gottwald.
(Reporting by Mitch Phillips, editing by Ed Osmond)
