18th Olympic medal

LIVE: Will our combined athletes manage to catch up?

In the end, Stefan Rettenegger and Johannes Lamparter were able to celebrate winning precious metal after all.(Bild: AFP/ANNE-CHRISTINE POUJOULAT)

Austria's Nordic combined athletes have won another medal in their third and final competition at the Winter Olympics in northern Italy. Stefan Rettenegger and Johannes Lamparter, who had already won two silver medals in Val di Fiemme, took bronze in a dramatic team sprint on Thursday. Rettenegger fell during the cross-country skiing. Gold went to Norwegians Andreas Skoglund and Jens Luraas Oftebro in the final sprint against Finns Eero Hirvonen and Ilkka Herola.

This was Austria's 18th medal at these Winter Games. The number set as a target by ÖOC President Horst Nussbaumer for Beijing 2022 has thus already been achieved with three days of competition remaining. In addition to five gold and eight silver medals, Austria now also has five bronze medals to its name. Lamparter is the only ÖOC athlete to leave Italy with three Olympic medals. Four years ago in China, Austria's combined athletes came away empty-handed in fourth place in what was then still a classic team competition after material problems.

Catch-up race in deep snow
In the Olympic premiere of the new format with only two athletes and ten cross-country skiing laps of 1.5 km each, Rettenegger and Lamparter started the race 29 seconds behind the Germans, who were leading after the ski jumping, but were only eight seconds behind the bronze medal position. Rettenegger quickly caught up with the Finns and Japanese who had started ahead of him in very deep conditions due to fresh snow and handed over to World Cup leader Lamparter in third place at the first changeover.

In the third lap, the five top nations joined together to form a large group, with Rettenegger setting the pace. From then on, it was all about tactics. In the third-to-last lap, however, Germany's two-time Olympic champion Vinzenz Geiger fell and also brought down Japan's Ryota Yamamoto. The same mishap happened to Rettenegger a little later in the extremely deep track, and the chance for gold was gone. The Salzburg native handed over to Lamparter eight seconds behind the lead.

Difficulties on the ski jump
Heavy snowfall had already made conditions difficult on the large hill in Predazzo. In addition to the slow track and poor visibility in places, there was also a gusty wind. Rettenegger had particular problems with his approach speed and finished sixth in his heat with a jump of only 116 meters. After a 124-meter jump, Lamparter was only one second behind Germany.

Despite Johannes Rydzek's strong jump, the Germans ultimately finished fifth behind Italy and failed to win a medal in the combined event at the Winter Olympics for the first time since Nagano in 1998. Oftentimes, on the other hand, who had beaten Lamparter from Tyrol in both the normal and large hill events in the individual competition, is now a four-time Olympic champion. In Val di Fiemme, the 25-year-old won all three possible titles. Rettenegger won his first Olympic medal in the last competition.