Germany take victory in first team sprint of the season

Eric Frenzel and Fabian Riessle reigned supreme in Val di Fiemme to hand victory to Germany I in the first men's team sprint of the Nordic Combined World Cup season.

Frenzel, who won the individual Nordic Combined crystal globe for five straight years between 2013 and 2017, struggled slightly in the ski jumping element as his leap of 99.5m was worth 127.8 points but Riessle jumped further and earned 134.6 for a competitive total of 262.4.

That placed them second heading into the cross-country, only behind Hideaki Nagai and Ryota Yamamoto, and they took advantage when the Japanese duo struggled mightily on the skis - eventually finishing down in tenth.

Frenzel and Riessle notched a combined time of 35:11.9 minutes on the 7.5km course as Riessle outsprinted Lukas Greiderer in the final few metres to beat the Austrian and his partner Johannes Lamparter by 1.5s.

Ilkka Herola and Eero Hirvonen of Finland were 50.7s behind the winners in third as Germany II, consisting of Johannes Rydzek and Julian Schmid, missed out on the podium by just 0.3s.

The second men's team sprint event of the campaign will be contested in Lahti next Sunday.

Sportsbeat 2021