COC: Gerstgraser & Geraghty-Moats also unstoppable in Rena
Feb 16, 2019·Nordic Combined
After a chilly night in Rena, the hill presented itself in very good conditions for a fair jumping round. Just like the week before in Eisenerz, athletes from Norway and Austria fighting for the top positions. Once again, the longest jump belonged to Austria’s Christian Deuschl on 105 metres, followed closely by Sindre Ure Soetvik with 104 metres . However, the Norwegian got some bonus points for bad wind, which brought him the lead after jumping, just 4 seconds ahead of Deuschl. The intermediate third position went to Germany’s David Welde with a jump to 100 metres, Harald Johnas Riiber followed in fourth with 101 m. Paul Gerstgraser on position five (102 m) and Petter Loeset Skodjereite (102 m) completed the top six.
The cross-country race was once again dominated by Austria’s Gerstgraser, who showed yet another outstanding performance and didn’t let his fellow competitors a chance. However, the fight for the following places was a very close affair. Soetvik, Riiber and Welde stayed closely together throughout the entire race. In the end, the two Norwegians were able to get rid of the German and Riiber was able to beat his teammate Soetvik on the finish line. The fourth place went to Welde. The World Cup experienced athletes Philipp Orter and Antoine Gerard followed on rank five and six.
A Norwegian was also in the lead after jumping in the ladies' competition. Gyda Westvold Hansen, silver medallist of the FIS Junior World Ski Championships in Lahti a few weeks ago, had the longest jump to 99 metres, followed by Italy’s Veronica Gianmoena (96 m) and the overall Continental Cup leader from the USA. Tara Geraghty-Moats (92 m). Maria Gerboth, the strong cross-country skier from Germany (95.5 m), her teammate Jenny Nowak (93 m) and Austria’s Eva Hubinger (93.5 m) followed on rank four, five and six.
In the cross-country part, Geraghty-Moats could once again demonstrate her strength and was able to catch Westvold-Hansen in the beginning of lap two and win the race 28.2 seconds ahead of the Norwegian. The fight for the last spot on the podium was a team internal battle between Jenny Nowak and Maria Gerboth with the better end for Nowak. Fifth place went to Italy’s Veronica Gianmoena, who had a fall on the track, the sixth place went to Marte Leinan Lund from Norway.
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