Felix Gottwald of Austria and Georg Hettich of Germany have emerged as the stars of the Nordic combined events at Pragelato at Torino 2006...
Felix Gottwald of Austria and Georg Hettich of Germany have emerged as the stars of the Nordic combined events at Pragelato at Torino 2006.
On Day 1 of the Games (11 February), the men’s individual event commenced and Georg Hettich of Germany defied his low world ranking to win a surprising gold. The 27-year-old took the lead after the second round of ski jumping and then held off all challengers in the 15km cross country phase. Hettich finished the event in 39:44.6, 9.8 seconds ahead of silver medallist Gottwald.
Magnus-H Moan of Norway was placed 9th after the ski jumping phase and produced a magnificent performance in the cross country leg to secure the bronze medal in a photo finish ahead of team-mate Petter L Tande.
Gottwald also had a magnificent cross country. He trailed Hettich by 1 minute and 52 seconds leading into the second discipline and made up all but 9.8 seconds of the lead.
Gottwald won three bronze medals at Salt Lake 2002 and came to Torino with high expectations and deliver he did. As well as his individual silver the 30-year-old won gold in the large hill 7.5km sprint and contributed to Austria’s victory in the team event.
In the team event, Austria capitalised on an ill-fated decision by the German team to let Jens Gaiser run the anchor leg of the cross country phase. The German team at this stage had a considerable lead over the rest of the field however they were wrong in assuming this lead was insurmountable.
The strength of the Austrian skiers meant that they were able to gain considerable ground. Mario Stecher started the final leg with a gap to Germany’s Gaiser of less than 21 seconds. The experienced Austrian skier was able to catch the German, and make his move, charging past him on the final uphill securing the gold medal for Austria.
The German team were forced to settle for silver and Hannu Manninen anchored the Finnish team to bronze.
On 21 Februry (Day 11), Hettich earned a considerable lead going into the sprint phase after soaring 133.5m on the large hill ski jump.
Gottwald began 54 seconds in arrears and skied extraordinarily well to close the gap on the field by halfway. Hettich, Gottwald and Moan of Norway then broke away from the pack soon after and it became a three-way battle for gold.
Gottwald made his move 2km from the finish and defeated Moan by more than five second.
The 22-year-old Norwegian finished the race in 17:38.4 forcing Hettich to settle for bronze.
Hettich’s bronze made him the first nordic combined athlete to win three different coloured medals at the same Olympic Games. Veterans of the sport, Gottwald and Hettich both leave Torino enjoying great Olympic success.
Alice Wheeler / AOC
Torino