FIS News
Athlete of the Week: Jarl Riiber (NOR)
With the World Cup on hiatus before the World Championships in Falun, it was the juniors’s time to shine when their World Championships were held in Almaty, Kazakhstan. And much in the fashion of a Manuel Faißt or a Philipp Orter who claimed all the Junior World Championship gold medals in the past two years, there was another athlete who put his mark on the competitions: Norway’s rising star Jarl Riiber.
The only 17-year-old talent travelled to Kazakhstan with his World Cup debut already in the bag: at this year’s World Cup weekend in Lillehammer, he started in the national group, immediately taking World Cup points with rank 28. Afterwards, he got the Nordic Combined and Ski Jumping world buzzing by winning a Norwegian qualifying competition for the Four Hills Tournament, beating big names like Tom Hilde or Anders Jacobsen.
But before speculations of Riiber changing his discipline to ski jumping could make rounds, the Norwegian gave a clear answer on the track: his international World Cup debut in Chaux-Neuve ended with a strong rank 13. A week later in Seefeld, he put all remaining doubt fully to rest and captured his first World Cup podium in his third-ever World Cup start: rank three on the first TRIPLE day 2015.
Asked about the issue in the following press conference, Riiber showed the present journalists the first glimpse of a truly likable and fascinating personality: „Nordic Combined is so much fun and ski jumping is … too simple“, the 17-year-old deadpanned, working through his initial shyness on his big day.
Encouraged by quite some time in the World Cup Leader Board and a growing set of experiences, Riiber began to show more and more of this sparkly personality, turning him a fan favourite fast. Asked if he would not like to remove his googles in the Leader Board, so people on TV could actually see him, he quipped: „No, I have to be careful of all of these people recognizing me in the streets. You know, there are lots of Beriibers out there!“, playing on music superstar Justin Bieber and his adoring fan crowd, the „Beliebers“.
With a lot of tailwind from his successes, Riiber travelled to Almaty as one of the clear favourites… and delivered. Playing his jumping strength as a trump card, he still proved to be strong enough on the track to control the fast skiers Paul Gerstgraser, Bernhard Flaschberger or Jakob Lange, over 5 as well as 10 kilometres.
With continued success in the sports part of things and his likable personality, Jarl Riiber is well-equipped to slowly grow into one of the very big names of Nordic Combined and it will be a pleasure to watch him do it. Are you a Beriiber yet?
Source: fis-ski.com
The only 17-year-old talent travelled to Kazakhstan with his World Cup debut already in the bag: at this year’s World Cup weekend in Lillehammer, he started in the national group, immediately taking World Cup points with rank 28. Afterwards, he got the Nordic Combined and Ski Jumping world buzzing by winning a Norwegian qualifying competition for the Four Hills Tournament, beating big names like Tom Hilde or Anders Jacobsen.
But before speculations of Riiber changing his discipline to ski jumping could make rounds, the Norwegian gave a clear answer on the track: his international World Cup debut in Chaux-Neuve ended with a strong rank 13. A week later in Seefeld, he put all remaining doubt fully to rest and captured his first World Cup podium in his third-ever World Cup start: rank three on the first TRIPLE day 2015.
Asked about the issue in the following press conference, Riiber showed the present journalists the first glimpse of a truly likable and fascinating personality: „Nordic Combined is so much fun and ski jumping is … too simple“, the 17-year-old deadpanned, working through his initial shyness on his big day.
Encouraged by quite some time in the World Cup Leader Board and a growing set of experiences, Riiber began to show more and more of this sparkly personality, turning him a fan favourite fast. Asked if he would not like to remove his googles in the Leader Board, so people on TV could actually see him, he quipped: „No, I have to be careful of all of these people recognizing me in the streets. You know, there are lots of Beriibers out there!“, playing on music superstar Justin Bieber and his adoring fan crowd, the „Beliebers“.
With a lot of tailwind from his successes, Riiber travelled to Almaty as one of the clear favourites… and delivered. Playing his jumping strength as a trump card, he still proved to be strong enough on the track to control the fast skiers Paul Gerstgraser, Bernhard Flaschberger or Jakob Lange, over 5 as well as 10 kilometres.
With continued success in the sports part of things and his likable personality, Jarl Riiber is well-equipped to slowly grow into one of the very big names of Nordic Combined and it will be a pleasure to watch him do it. Are you a Beriiber yet?
Source: fis-ski.com
