Germany sweeps podium in Nordic combined World Cup in Ruka

HELSINKI, Nov. 27 (Xinhua) -- Germany became the biggest winner on the second day of the Ruka Tour 2021, the opening stop of the Nordic combined World Cup season, by sweeping top three finish in Ruka, Finland on Saturday.

Terence Weber, who led the ski jumping round, overpowered his teammates Eric Frenzel and Vinzenz Geiger after a tight finish sprint.

The second-day action started with a big surprise in the qualification, as Norway's Jarl Magnus Riiber, who had won Friday's competition, was disqualified due to an irregular suit.

Weber managed the furthest jump of the day with 136.5 meters and collected 151.8 points, becoming the first one to go into the 10km cross-country race.

Mario Seidl from Austria jumped to 133.5 meters (150.3 points) took the second spot, six seconds behind Weber.

Kristjan Ilves from Estonia surprised many by jumping 136 meters and placing third with a score of 149.9 points and an eight-second backlog from the leader.

A tight cross-country race could be expected from the beginning, as seven athletes started into the race with a time gap of 18 seconds.

Despite the leader group expanding to 15 athletes during the last lap, team Germany launched an attack on the last climb and most of their pursuers could not withstand it.

Weber prevailed a finish sprint against Frenzel (at 1.2 seconds) and Geiger (at 2.3 seconds). The German won his first World Cup and took the lead in the overall standings for the first yellow bib of his career. A total of 21 athletes finished the race in under one minute.

Another Gundersen large hill and 10km cross-country race is scheduled on Sunday to conclude the Ruka Tour 2021 action. Enditem