Image: JOE KLAMAR (AFP)
Stefan Rettenegger, Annalena Slamik, Lisa Hirner and Johannes Lamparter secured the fourth medal for the ÖSV team in Planica. Nordic combined Franz-Josef Rehrl also secured bronze in the individual normal hill, silver was for ski jumper Eva Pinkelnig in the individual normal hill and with the team. Norway won the Combi-Mixed ahead of Germany.
The positions were taken after the first round of cross-country skiing. The Austrians were fourth after the jump, the deficit to the third-placed Japanese was five seconds. However, Rettenegger caught up with Ryota Yamamoto in the first of his two 2.5 km laps and left the strongest jumper in the men standing. Slamik and Hirner held the position. Lamparter, who came into the team to replace Rehrl, who fell ill overnight, still made a lot of steam, but individual silver medalist Julian Schmid was already too far away.
The Norwegians had the fastest in cross-country skiing and the individual world champions in their ranks. Jens Luraas Oftebro, Ida Marie Hagen, Gyda Westvold Hansen and Jarl Magnus Riiber celebrated a sovereign victory as favorites. The Germans with Vinzenz Geiger, Jenny Nowak, Nathalie Armbruster and Julian Schmid were 47.8 seconds behind, the red-white-red team was exactly one minute behind after the 15 km distance. The fourth-placed Italians lost a total of 1:53.5 minutes. The men had to run 5 km each, the women 2.5 km.
Lamparter was woken from a deep sleep in the morning and informed about his start. With a jump of 99.0 m, he found his way around better than in training for and in the normal hill competition. Hirner and Slamik are both 19 years old, Rettenegger 23. Lamparter noted that he was of course disappointed with the original nomination: “I was the third best Austrian, but I was at the front over the season. Of course that hurt, it hurt , especially the reasoning of the coaches.”
Rehrl had to pass in the morning after receiving his medal and celebrating the night before: “I caught a flu infection, I’m not doing anything. I’ll keep my fingers crossed for my teammates,” reported the 29-year-old the sickbed. “It can go that fast in top-class sport, but it’s no use anyway.”
Source: Nachrichten
