Around the World
Athlete of the Week: Jarl Riiber (NOR)
For one last athlete, we have an early Christmas present in the year 2015 and this time it was not hard to chose: the FIS Nordic Combined Athlete of the Week is Jarl Magnus Riiber (NOR).
Riiber’s career has propelled forward at warp speed over the last year that has taken him from being a competitor in the national Norges Cup to double Junior World Champion titles to Continental Cup wins to his infamous crash with Johannes Rydzek in Lahti to the Norwegian Champion title to three podium results in the World Cup. What Riiber has achieved with his 18 years only has taken other athletes half a decade to do, if they managed to ascend to this level at all.
What the resident of Oslo is demonstrating at the moment is a balanced Nordic Combined athlete at his best: few would have expected the accomplished ski jumping to perform as well on the cross-country track as he did - in Ramsau am Dachstein of all places that has been known as a mecca for the stronger skiers due to the small differences after the jumping event.
Riiber, who also beats some of the Norwegian ski jumpers on an almost regular basis in competitions in his home venue of Holmenkollen and Midstuen is the measure of all things on the jumping hill but contrary to jumping sensations like Russian Evgeniy Klimov, Riiber improved colossally on the cross-country track over the summer, being able to hold his own against most of the starting field. On top of that, he proved last weekend that he is a smart racer, pacing himself, letting the pursuers catch up only to have enough energy left in the tank to match the last attacks and even overpower two different opponents in two finish line sprints.
If Norway’s rising star keeps his cool and doesn’t let his early success get to his head, this will not be the last thing we have heard of Jarl Magnus Riiber. World Cup victory not impossible (only saying: who’s supposed to catch this guy in the TRIPLE 5 km kickoff event?)! As his experienced teammate Magnus Moan said about Riiber: „This is only the beginning!“
Source: fis-ski.com
Riiber’s career has propelled forward at warp speed over the last year that has taken him from being a competitor in the national Norges Cup to double Junior World Champion titles to Continental Cup wins to his infamous crash with Johannes Rydzek in Lahti to the Norwegian Champion title to three podium results in the World Cup. What Riiber has achieved with his 18 years only has taken other athletes half a decade to do, if they managed to ascend to this level at all.
What the resident of Oslo is demonstrating at the moment is a balanced Nordic Combined athlete at his best: few would have expected the accomplished ski jumping to perform as well on the cross-country track as he did - in Ramsau am Dachstein of all places that has been known as a mecca for the stronger skiers due to the small differences after the jumping event.
Riiber, who also beats some of the Norwegian ski jumpers on an almost regular basis in competitions in his home venue of Holmenkollen and Midstuen is the measure of all things on the jumping hill but contrary to jumping sensations like Russian Evgeniy Klimov, Riiber improved colossally on the cross-country track over the summer, being able to hold his own against most of the starting field. On top of that, he proved last weekend that he is a smart racer, pacing himself, letting the pursuers catch up only to have enough energy left in the tank to match the last attacks and even overpower two different opponents in two finish line sprints.
If Norway’s rising star keeps his cool and doesn’t let his early success get to his head, this will not be the last thing we have heard of Jarl Magnus Riiber. World Cup victory not impossible (only saying: who’s supposed to catch this guy in the TRIPLE 5 km kickoff event?)! As his experienced teammate Magnus Moan said about Riiber: „This is only the beginning!“
Source: fis-ski.com
