Large Hill / 10 km, Individual, Men

Jarl Magnus Riiber, the pre-Olympic favourite, was finally out of the isolation that prevented him from competing in the normal hill competition. Also well enough to compete was the outsider Kristjan Ilves of Estonia. Riiber won the the normal hill competition at the 2021 World Championships, ahead of Ilkka Herola (Finland), and Jens Lurås Oftebro (Norway).

Riiber was the best ski jumper of the day and cleared a massive 142 metres. On the hill, only Ilves and Ryota Yamamoto, the best jumper from the normal hill, were close to him. They both had very good wind conditions, and therefore received many negative wind adjustment points. Riiber started the cross-country element 44 seconds ahead of Ilves and Yamamoto, with the German Manuel Faißt and Japan’s Akito Watabe behind them. First and second from the normal hill, Jørgen Graabak and Vinzenz Geiger, started more than two minutes behind.

When coming into the stadium after the first lap, Riiber managed to go into a wrong lane, and had to make a u-turn. This cost him almost 40 seconds, and suddenly he was only 15 seconds ahead of his pursuers. Faißt and Watabe seemed at that point to be the most active of the chasing group. In the group behind was an Austrian trio who were getting faster and improving all the time. On the second lap, Riiber was passed by Faißt and Watabe, and dropped to third. Yamamoto and Ilves were now both out of the contention, but the Austrians were getting closer, and Geiger, Graabak, and Oftebro were also improving.

On the third lap the leading trio became seven, before several skiers start to struggle with the tempo. At the end of the third lap, the leading group now consisted of four athletes but the strong trio of Geiger, Graabak, and Oftebro were only 12 seconds behind. Austrian Johannes Lamparter was in front of the leading group going into the last lap, while Geiger led the chasing group. One kilometre into the last lap, Riiber started to struggle and was soon passed by the chasing group. At that point the leading group had increased their lead. However, Geiger ran out of steam which left just Graabak and Oftebro as chasers.

Watabe was first into the stadium ahead of Faißt, but Graabak went past them on the last turn, and on the final straight, Oftebro also overtook both Watabe and Faißt to make it a Norway 1-2. For Graabak it was a sweet victory, as he re-claimed the Olympic crown he captured at Sochi eight years earlier. Graabak also enjoyed the fastest ski time of the day, about 20 seconds better than Geiger and Oftebro.