Frenzel defends crown in thriller
PYEONGCHANG, South Korea, Feb 14, (RTRS): Eric Frenzel of Germany survived a thrilling last lap to take the gold medal in the Olympic men’s Nordic combined individual event on Wednesday and successfully defend the title he won in Sochi four years ago.
Sochi silver medallist Akito Watabe of Japan finished 4.8 seconds behind to claim second place once again and Lukas Klapfer of Austria secured the bronze.
When the ski jumping got underway after a half-hour delay due to high winds, Franz-Josef Rehrl of Austria recorded a superb leap of 130.6 metres to take a shock lead ahead of the crosscountry skiing.
World Cup leader Watabe, third after the ski jumping, started the skiing slightly behind the leader but by the middle of the third lap he had closed the gap and moved into medal contention.
Frenzel moved clear of the group of five who had broken away, but the lead changed hands several times before the German tried to go alone on the last lap.
But he could not shake off the pursuing trio of Watabe, Klapfer and Jarl Magnus Riibe until a powerful surge on the final hill enabled him to cross the line on his own.
It was the fourth Olympic medal for the 29-year-old German, who also won silver in Sochi and bronze at the Vancouver Games in 2010.
Norway’s Jan Schmid, who is second in the World Cup standings, dropped out of contention after a poor ski jump.