Gold in sight! Schmid is in waiting position
Three-time season winner Julian Schmid has established an excellent starting position for the medal fight in the first competition of the Nordic Combined at the World Championships in Planica, Slovenia.
The athlete from Oberstdorf flew to the best distance of 104.0 m on the normal hill and will start as third in the cross-country race over 10 km.
He is 25 seconds behind defending champion Jarl Magnus Riiber, who is in the lead, but there are still question marks over the Norwegian’s form, who has been absent several times recently due to health problems. So exciting to see which of the two promising athletes will come out ahead, bet on 22bet on the best athlete. Riiber will start into the cross-country race at the same time as Ryota Yamamoto, but the Japanese have their strengths on the hill.
Manuel Faisst (Baiersbronn/+1:10 minutes) is the second-best German starter in tenth place. Record World Champion Eric Frenzel (Geyer/+1:27) takes up the chase in 14th place together with Olympic Champion Vinzenz Geiger (Oberstdorf/+1:30), who is considered one of the strongest runners in the field. “I think I would have had more on it,” said Geiger, “but now I have a pretty decent starting position, let’s see how far it can still go forward there.” Meanwhile, overall World Cup leader Johannes Lamparter suffered a minor setback. The Austrian, 2021 Oberstdorf World Champion from the large hill, landed already at 93.5 m and goes with a gap of 1:35 minutes in the group around Geiger and Frenzel into the cross-country skiing.
Ski jumping: Hessler before World Cup debut
Ski jumper Pauline Hessler will make her World Cup debut in Planica in the competition from the large hill. National coach Maximilian Mechler nominated the 24-year-old after the training for the qualification on Tuesday evening. Team World Champion Luisa Görlich, who also competes for WSV 08 Lauscha, will have to watch.
Hessler was ranked 26th, 21st, and 11th in the three training sdasrinagar runs in the morning, and Görlich 18th, 24th and 21st. Selina Freitag (Aue), who has already won two gold medals in Slovenia, fared better with positions 14th, 12th, and 5th.
Katharina Althaus (Oberstdorf), who can get her fourth gold in Planica on Wednesday (5:30 p.m./ARD and Eurosport), waived training.
