Riiber claims 3rd straight Nordic combined Ruka Tour title

HELSINKI, Nov. 28 (Xinhua) -- Norway's Jarl Magnus Riiber won the Nordic combined World Cup Individual Gundersen race in Ruka, Finland and claimed his third straight title in the Ruka Tour on Sunday.

The final day action of the Ruka Tour started with a cancelation. As the wind picked up, the jury had to make the decision to cancel the ski jumping round, and the result from the provisional competition round on Thursday was used for Sunday's competition.

Johannes Lamparter was the first to start into the 10km cross-country race. The Austrian won the provisional competition round with a jump of 140 meters and collected 154.7 points, six seconds ahead of his teammate Mario Seidl, who had jumped 142 meters for 153.2 points.

Riiber, winner on the first day in Ruka, placed third with 141 meters and 151.2 points, starting 14 seconds after Lamparter.

Unable to keep up with the pace of Riiber, Seidl fell back after 5km, while Lamparter and Riiber formed a leading group with a 13-second advantage.

Riiber started an attack on the last uphill, and Lamparter could not withstand it. Riiber, last season's overall winner, expanded his lead to 12.4 seconds when crossing the finish line en route to his Ruka Tour champion for the third time in a row.

Jens Luraas Oftebro, also from Norway, put on an exciting finish sprint against Saturday's winner Terence Weber from Germany. Oftebro finished third at 33 seconds behind the leader.

Riiber becomes the overall World Cup leader, and will wear the yellow bib next weekend in Lillehammer, Norway. Enditem