Herola storms to maiden win as Riiber bows out and Geiger moves to brink of overall title

Ilkka Herola (FIN) stormed to his maiden individual victory in the Viessman FIS Nordic Combined World Cup 13 years after his debut on a momentous day in Oslo as Jarl Magnus Riiber (NOR) bowed out of the sport and Vinzenz Geiger (GER) moved to the brink of claiming his first overall title.

Herola had previously finished on the podium 13 times including two - in Ramsau and Schonach – earlier this season, in which he has also finished fourth five times and fifth twice, including Saturday’s Gundersen.

But the 29-year-old Finn broke the HS134 Holmenkollbakken hill record with a remarkable wind-assisted 146.0m jump that saw him start the 7.5km Compact cross-country with a six-second lead over Franz-Josef Rehrl (AUT).

But despite a glut of good skiers in close proximity, Herola shook off Rehrl in the first third of the race before stepping up the pace to forge a 34-second lead after 5km.

That meant he could ease back slightly in the final 2.5km to take the victory in 17:11.3, with Geiger coming home second, 15.3 seconds adrift, and Johannes Lamparter (AUT) edging compatriot Stefan Rettenegger for third place.

“That was insane,” he said. “On the gnoll it felt quite normal, not anything special with the height or anything. But there was an extreme head-wind at the end of the flight which took me a totally different direction, but also took off quite a lot of speed and made it possible to stand the jump. That saved my knees possibly today!”

The wind appeared to then change again for the final five jumpers, but Lamparter’s 119.0m effort (122.4) still placed him third, 12 seconds back, with Geiger 30 seconds behind in seventh after a 126.0 jump (117.5).

Riiber, going last, found himself in unfamiliar territory with his 110.5m effort only good enough for 110.5 points, leaving him 21st - a minute down – heading to the tracks.

Having announced in late January that he would retire at the end of the season as he battles to deal with the effects of Crohn's disease, it initially appeared Riiber was intent on chasing the 111th World Cup podium of his remarkable career but a fall coming round a high-speed turn cost him nearly 10 seconds. He concluded his racing career on an emotional day that drew accolades from his rivals and crowd alike.

With Geiger collecting 90 points for second place, he moved 14 points above Riiber in the overall standings, meaning Geiger is now poised to claim the overall title barring any unlikely turns of events in the closing races ahead.