Victory for Herola, Rydzek secures Overall win
Ilkka Herola from Finland is the winner of the men’s last Summer Grand Prix competition 2023, while Johannes Rydzek secured the Overall victory with a 4th place.
In the morning, Stefan Rettenegger took the lead in the final Ski Jumping competition at the Villacher Alpenarena HS98.
In front of his home crowd the Austrian jumped the furthest distance of the day with 97 meters (119.8 pts). Therefore, he was the first one to start into the 10 km roller ski race at noon.
Rank 2 after jumping went to Thomas Rettenegger, who landed at 94 meters (119.2 pts) and went into the course only 2 seconds after his little brother.
Ilkka Herola from Finland, who was disqualified yesterday during the race for skiing outside of the marked course, placed third with 93 meters and 117.9 points, 8 seconds behind the leader.
The leading trio stayed together for the entire race, keeping their pursuers at a safe distance.
Meanwhile, Johannes Rydzek, who placed 12th after jumping, worked his way up to the top of the following group at the 5km mark.
The pursuers, lead by the German in the yellow bib, managed to reduce the gap to the leaders, but couldn’t catch them.
In an exciting finish sprint Herola prevailed against Stefan Rettenegger (+0.5 sec), while Thomas Rettenegger couldn’t keep up the high speed and already fell back during the final lap. He secured the third place 29.1 sec behind, while Rydzek (+42.6 sec) placed 4th.
With 330 points the German is the overall winner of the FIS Nordic Combined Summer Grand Prix 2023.
SJ Results: IG Men HS98/10km – 3.9.23 Villach
Results: IG Men HS98/10km – 3.9.23 Villach
Header image: Credit: © Volk/NordicFocus