No jumping, no result – bitter end for Nordic combined in Ruka

Strong winds once again disrupted the Nordic Combined World Cup weekend in Ruka, Finland. As on Saturday, Sunday’s ski jumping could not be held due to unsafe wind conditions. Because there was no Provisional Competition Round (PCR) jump in place, the entire men’s mass start competition was voided and produced no official result.

Before the cancellation, Germany’s Julian Schmid had put himself in a promising position. In the mass start format, the athletes ski first and jump second. Schmid completed the 10 km race in 22:53.4 for third-fastest time behind Austria’s Stefan Rettenegger, the quickest in the tracks. With the jumping phase called off, however, there were no standings and no World Cup points awarded.

Schmid took the decision calmly, saying he had doubts when he looked out the window in the morning, but still “gave everything” on the course. He called the cancellation the right decision given the conditions.

The German squad nevertheless showed solid cross-country form under head coach Eric Frenzel. Wendelin Thannheimer finished eighth over the 10 km, while David Mach, Tristan Sommerfeldt, Johannes Rydzek and Terence Weber worked together to place 12th through 15th. Simon Mach finished 33rd, and youngster Richard Stenzel was 40th. All described it as valuable training—though they would have preferred World Cup points.

Schmid had already enjoyed an excellent start to the season in Ruka, taking second place in both opening events behind Austria’s Johannes Lamparter, meeting the Olympic qualification standard for February’s Games in Italy. Sunday’s voided competition denied him a chance at a third consecutive podium.