Nordic combined: Einar Luraas Oftebro dominates Johannes Ridzek in the sprint in Otepää
The day after his first podium, in the mass-start at Otepää, Norway’s Einar Luraas Oftebro raised his arms for the first time. In the Estonian world cup, he dominated the sprint of Germany’s Johannes Ridzek (+0 sec 5) and his compatriot Andreas Skoglund (+1 sec 4), who also took his first podium.
On the demanding 10 km course, the best cross-country skiers quickly isolated themselves at the front in clusters, until they found themselves in a group of eight combined in the last of the five laps. While Austria’s Johannes Lamparter (7th, 15 seconds back), Germany’s Julian Schmid (5th, 5 seconds back) and Estonia’s Kristjan Ilves (8th, 23 seconds back) hung on to each other with a kilometre to go, Norway’s Jens Luraas Oftebro was unable to mount an attack in the final after a superb comeback (started 1 min 18 back, finally 4th, 4 seconds back).
A record-breaking Akito Watabe
Never in contention for victory, Austria’s Thomas Rettenegger finished in the top 10 (9th, 39 sec), as did Germany’s Vinzenz Geiger (10th, 44 sec). It should be noted that with 296 races contested, Japan’s Akito Watabe (36th at 2 min 46) is the new record holder for World Cup starts.
Frenchman Marco Heinis started fifth and only managed to hold on for a few hectometres. He was 15th after two kilometres and dropped steadily to 32nd (+2 min 20). A similar situation for Laurent Muhlethaler, who finished 34th (+2 min 44) after starting 15th. Edgar Vallet finished 43rd (+3 min 33), Mattéo Baud 51st (+5 min 35) and Maël Tyrode 54th after being caught. The Blues were particularly lacking in glide on the Estonian snow, in sub-zero temperatures.
Otepää men’s gundersen rankings
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