German skier Geiger wins first Nordic combined gold at Beijing 2022

CHONGLI, Zhangjiakou, Feb. 9 (Xinhua) -- German skier Vinzenz Geiger claimed the first Nordic combined gold at the Beijing Winter Olympics here on Wednesday.

Despite ranking 11th with 111.4 points in the ski jumping section, meaning a 1:26 backlog on the leader Ryota Yamamoto from Japan, Geiger skied strong in the 10km cross-country race to finish first in 25 minutes and 7.7 seconds in the individual Gundersen normal hill/10km event.

"It's unreal, I don't know how I managed it. I tried to push hard and I had really, really fast skis. My service guys did the perfect job," said Geiger after the duel.

"I didn't imagine a medal. A gold medal is crazy," the 24-year-old added.

Geiger has won the team gold at PyeongChang 2018 together with Fabian Riessle, Eric Frenzel and Johannes Rydzek, but he finished seventh (large hill/10km) and ninth (normal hill/10km) in the individual events in PyeongChang.

Joergen Graabak from Norway was placed second, 0.8 seconds behind Geiger. Austria's Lukas Greiderer bagged the bronze, 6.6 seconds adrift of the leader.

Graabak, 30, was a two-time Olympic champion (individual, team) at Sochi 2014 in his Olympic Winter Games debut. He also won a team silver at PyeongChang 2018.

Bronze medalist Greiderer said: "It was such a crazy race. I really thought I was getting a medal over the three laps, but in the last 500 metres someone came and nobody told me that Vinzenz was getting close to me."

"I really (just) survived until the finish line. I was so out of strength, I didn't see anything - I just passed out one metre over the finish line. Some of my teammates picked me up and said 'You have the bronze medal'," he added.

A total of 44 athletes took part in the competition, and the 21-year-old Zhao Jiawen, the only competitor from China, finished 43rd.

The other two events of Nordic combined at Beijing 2022, the individual Gundersen large hill/10km, and the team Gundersen large hill/4x5km, will take place on Feb. 15 and 17 apiece.