Second race, second podium: Combined skier Julian Schmid starts the season in style

Germany’s Julian Schmid delivered another outstanding performance at the Nordic Combined World Cup opener in Ruka. One day after taking second place, the 26‑year‑old again finished runner‑up on Saturday behind Austria’s Johannes Lamparter, who dominated the 10 km cross‑country phase from start to finish.

Lamparter skied a lone race at the front, evoking the kind of control Jarl Magnus Riiber has shown in recent years. Behind him, the battle for second place was fierce. Schmid traded attacks with Lamparter’s teammate Thomas Rettenegger and made the decisive move on the final climb, opening a gap to secure P2. Schmid’s final margin to Lamparter was 32.7 seconds over 10 km.

The result also confirms Schmid’s excellent early‑season form and locks in his Olympic qualification, which requires two podiums—achieved in the first two races. “It was really hard out there,” Schmid said. “I tried to go out fast, and at some point I stopped chasing Johannes Lamparter and focused on securing second place.”

Wind disruption affected the day’s schedule. The morning ski jumping round was abandoned after ten athletes due to unsafe conditions. As a result, the Provisional Competition Round (PCR) stood as the jumping result. That benefitted Schmid and Wendelin Thannheimer, but hurt others: Richard Stenzel and Johannes Rydzek were saddled with large deficits (about 2:30 and 3:10, respectively) before the skiing even began.

Among the other Germans, Thannheimer’s promising position (4th at 46 seconds back) was undone by a mid‑race crash; he recovered to finish seventh, 1:47.6 behind. The Mach brothers, David and Simon, placed 10th and 12th, while Johannes Rydzek gained seven spots to 20th, just ahead of youngster Richard Stenzel.

Schmid noted he missed the support of top teammate Vinzenz Geiger, last season’s overall World Cup winner, who is out with three bony ligament avulsions in his right foot suffered while playing football. Geiger will skip Sunday’s mass start and aims to return for Ramsau on 19–20 December.