P¦ leader disqualified for a bizarre reason. “When I lowered myself, I felt it burst”

This weekend in Seefeld the P¦ Nordic Combined competition is held. After just over half of the season, the leader of the general classification is Norwegian Jarl Magnus Riiber. Saturday may turn out to be the doomsday for him, which will cross his chances for the final triumph. And it’s because of the disqualification for a bizarre reason.

Nordic Combined. Jarl Magnus Riiber was about to chase and was disqualified for the hole

A triptych is played in Seefeld, in which the results of three days are taken into account. The World Cup leader took fourth place on Friday. So on Saturday he had to attack his rivals. His coach decided that the best jumper among combiners would start from the lower bar. The Norwegian was a disappointment and jumped only 95.5 meters and would have been in 38th place. However, after the jumping competition and before the 10 km run, he was disqualified.

Reason? Non-regulation jumpsuit. This time, however, it’s not about too much slack in the crotch, which helps jumpers get a larger supporting surface. As the competitor was sliding down the landing, the television camera showed a hole in the suit between his buttocks. The judges had no choice, even though the suit, or rather its defect, caused him to spoil the jump. – A lot of strange things happened today. I felt it tear as I lowered myself into position. It put me off a bit,” said Riiber.

Disqualification means that the competitor will not be able to take part in the Sunday triptych competition. This significantly reduces his chance of winning the general classification. Now I have to forget about the World Cup completely and concentrate on the world championships. It helped me make this decision. In many ways, I feel a little relieved,’ he said. The Norwegian has 78 more points than Austrian Johannes Lamparter ahead of Saturday’s race. Everything seems to indicate that Riiber will lose his lead in the World Cup this weekend.

Why did he have such an attitude? Riiber won P¦ four years in a row. Recently, he has been struggling with serious health problems. He has a parasite that makes him unable to eat and is losing weight. An outstanding ski jumper among combiners does not have the strength to compete in cross-country skiing competitions that require much more endurance. And in less than a month the Nordic World Ski Championships will start in Planica. Here he has something to prove, because he competed at M¦ twice (2019, 2021) and individually has two gold medals and one silver. He lacks even gold on the large hill.