Combiner Riiber gets lost
Wrong turn, the gold medal is gone
02/15/2022, 06:12 p.m
At the finish, Jarl Magnus Riiber even wonders if he shouldn’t have started in the first place. The Norwegian Combined superstar heads into the cross-country as the leader despite only being allowed to leave isolation the day before. But then he gives away his lead in an almost tragic way.
Jarl Magnus Riiber had imagined the first full day as a free man to be very different. The Norwegian superstar of Nordic combined was only released from the tormenting corona isolation on Monday, this Tuesday he entered the competition with almost no preparation and was immediately on course for gold again: sovereign lead after jumping, 44 seconds ahead of second place, like this whole stupid story never happened. But then everything really went wrong.
Lonely and alone, Riiber turned into the stadium after the first of four laps. But instead of heading for lap two, the 24-year-old set course for the home straight. And because Riiber, when he finally realized his mistake, wasn’t even allowed to go left over the barrier to the correct corridor, he had to turn around and boot back.
The nice lead was gone. Even more: Since Riiber then left the forces, it was ultimately only enough for eighth place. “I didn’t feel very well today,” said Riiber: “The body is not used to cross-country skiing, at least not at minus 20 degrees. I was finished, although it was slow. I felt bad and maybe shouldn’t have started.”
Riiber’s appearance should fuel the discussion as to whether it is really a grenade idea to send athletes fresh from a corona infection to an Olympic race under extreme conditions and loads like in Beijing. After around ten days in Chinese hotel quarantine, the undoubtedly world’s best combined athlete, who has acted grotesquely superior in the past two years, was obviously not able to perform at his best morally and physically.
Will Riiber, who was already unlucky at the Olympics in Pyeongchang in 2018 with two fourth places in the individual and missed relay gold, want to compete in the team competition on Thursday? He didn’t know that, said Riiber, shrugging his shoulders. So all he had to do was congratulate his teammates Jörgen Graabak and Jens Luras Oftebro on their gold and silver medals, with Akito Watabe from Japan taking bronze. Like Riiber, the German combined athletes also went away empty-handed, Manuel Faißt reached the finish as an ungrateful fourth.