Eric Frenzel is double trouble in Seefeld! The German superstar took his third win in three days, repeated last year’s gala performance at his favourite venue of Seefeld and took home his second TRIPLE trophy. Frenzel finished the race a clear 9.9 seconds ahead of Haavard Klemetsen from Norway who also repeated last year’s rank. The third of the coveted podium spots went to Japan’s Akito Watabe (+20.5).

In the 2-round jumping event, Norway’s Haavard Klemetsen prevailed. With two amazing jumps of 109 and 110.5 metres, he set the longest jumps of both rounds and went out on the track uncontested for one minute and 30 seconds. The next best athlete was local hero Bernhard Gruber with 103 and 101.5 metres and a total of 237.6 points. Title defender Eric Frenzel had a shorter jump in difficult conditions in the first round but a furious comeback with 110 metres in the second round and ranked third after the jumping part, one minute and 33 seconds behind Klemetsen.

Youngster Fabian Steindl held on to a fourth rank after jumping but was not a favourite for the long 15 kilometre race awaiting the athletes on the final day of the TRIPLE. Still in striking distance for the podium were Japan’s Akito Watabe (+1:46) and Johannes Rydzek and Fabian Rießle with +2:02 and +2:07. Fast skiers Alessandro Pittin, Mikko Kokslien and Magnus Moan had to deal with time disadvantages from +3:20 to +4:02 which was quite a stretch even for the three lightning fast athletes.

Jumping Results

The 15 km cross-country race saw a strong Eric Frenzel and Bernhard Gruber teaming up to a pursuing duo shortly after the start. Still, it took them about halfway through the race until they had taken away the +1:30 time advantage which Klemetsen held at the beginning of the race. The Norwegian’s tactics to preserve his strength for the first part of the race, let Gruber and Frenzel catch up and then fight for the win in the second half seemed to pay off at first. Bernhard Gruber was not able to withstand the German’s tempo who showed not a second of weakness during the whole race. After Gruber had to let go, it was Klemetsen and Frenzel staying together for some more time until Frenzel increased the speed again and went away from Klemetsen on the last loop. In the end, Frenzel had time to grab a German flag and enjoy a triumphant finish, still crossing the finish line 9.9 seconds earlier than Klemetsen.

Behind the two a dramatic fight for the last remaining podium spot ensued: Fast Germans Rießle and Rydzek as well as Jan Schmid from Norway and Akito Watabe from Japan worked together to take in as much time as possible. An exhausted Bernhard Gruber tried to hang on to this group but also lost contact to the four pursuers in the end. On the final stretch, it came down to a sprint between Watabe and Rydzek which Watabe was victorious. After hanging back in the group and letting Rydzek do the leading work, Watabe had preserved his strength well and took the last remaining podium spot right before his upcoming home competitions in Sapporo.

The remaining Top Ten ranks were divided between Rydzek, Schmid, Rießle, Gruber, Bryan Fletcher and Willi Denifl. Alessandro Pittin skied the fastest race of all, improving his intermediate 19th to a final eighth place.

For the overall World Cup standings, this puts Eric Frenzel firmly in the lead with 621 points, Fabian Rießle is still holding a second place (476) and Akito Watabe is working his way up with 437 points.