Nordic combined-Norway clinches gold in chaotic team sprint
TESERO, Italy, Feb 19 : Norway won the Nordic combined team sprint at the Olympics on Thursday in a chaotic race that saw several crashes and collisions in heavy snow, dashing medal hopes for podium hopefuls in the final competition for the sport at these Games.
Andreas Skoglund and Jens Luraas Oftebro delivered for Norway, surging to gold by a ski's length over Finland after a breathless sprint finish. Austria took the bronze.
Heavy snowfall turned the course into a test of balance and nerve, reducing the contest to a five-nation battle halfway through as conditions deteriorated. Several racers lost their grip and lurched close to crashing on the treacherous surface.
With visibility fading and the tracks softening, none of the leading teams were willing to risk a decisive move, making most of the sprint a slow and cagey affair as the group followed each other until the last rounds.
Germany’s hopes unravelled when Vinzenz Geiger crashed late on, taking Ryota Yamamoto down with him after the Japanese skier was unable to get out of the way in time, putting both nations out of the fight for medals.
"I fell and then you don't have a chance to get back and, yeah, it's very hard and I'm very sorry for the whole team," Geiger told Reuters after the race, joking that the first round of post-competition beers would be on him.
Austria were forced out of contention for gold when Stefan Rettenegger fell near the end of the race, leaving Norway and Finland to settle the matter in a dramatic final stretch.
"There were some crashes... It was not easy. You need to clear your mind and fight for the end," said Johannes Lamparter of Austria. "From the beginning to the end, it was going all out and standing on the ski as long as possible."
The medal, though, was his third of these Games after he took silvers in individual events, while Oftebro secured his third of three possible gold medals at these Games.
"It was a dream to win an individual gold and also the team gold. But to take three golds, that's way more than I could ever dream of. So perfect Olympic Games for me," Oftebro said.
(Tommy Lund and Liz Hampton in Tesero; Editing by Andrew Cawthorne and Hugh Lawson)
