Nordic combined: fourth place after a fall for Geiger and Rydzek

AAs Vinzenz Geiger crossed the finish line, he arched his body, grabbed his head – and then threw his sticks away. The Oberstdorfer complained and raged, and his tirades were completely understandable. Because Geiger’s previous falls in the thick snow in Tesero had cost the German combined athletes their first Olympic medal at these Winter Games, perhaps gold.

Geiger, 28, in the team sprint in the eighth of ten laps, which he completed alternating with Johannes Rydzek, suddenly got the tip of his ski stuck in the snow in the leading group. He then turned half around himself, the approaching Japanese could no longer brake and tumbled over him. Geiger got up, drove on for a moment – and fell down again. The seconds ticked by and the competitors took the opportunity to drive up and away. “I’m sorry for Johannes and for the whole German team, it wasn’t the end we hoped for,” said the heartbroken violinist, who also spoke about his fall: “Stupid mistake, my glasses were full of snow, I didn’t see anything. My left ski dug into the deep snow, then I fell. Then I got up, it dug right back in, I fell again.”

In the end, Geiger and teammate Rydzek were 1:06.1 minutes short of gold, which the Norwegians Andreas Skoglund and Jens Luraas Oftebro won, ahead of the Finns Eero Hirvonen/Ilkka Herola and the Austrians Stefan Rettenegger/Johannes Lamparter. This means that the German combined athletes, who previously disappointed in the two individual competitions, especially on the hill, remain without an Olympic medal for the first time since Nagano 1998.

Geiger later fell into Rydzek’s arms and together they crouched in the snow, knowing that their Olympic journey together would now end in the most bitter way. Rydzek had already indicated before the Winter Games that they would be his last. Geiger later apologized again and again to Rydzek and the German team.

National coach Eric Frenzel also had shock written all over his face, he just felt “pure disappointment. We wanted to pull ourselves out of the mud by our own strength. The two of them were fully involved and got themselves into an ideal starting position. And then such a shitty accident happens. I’ve never seen Vinz lying in the snow anywhere. Before he got out of there again, he ran out of steam.”

After the jumping, things finally looked good for the DSV combined athletes after the messed up individual competitions. Rydzek jumped 123 meters in heavy snowfall on Thursday morning, Geiger landed after 122.5 meters, which meant first place – and 13 seconds ahead of Norway in the cross-country ski trail. There Skoglund and Oftebro soon caught up with the Germans on the 1.5 kilometer laps, a group of six formed in the deep, slow snow, but the Germans were still very promising in the race. Until Geiger made the fatal faux pas.

Was that the last Nordic combined at the Olympics? The decision will be made in May

Of all things, it was in an Olympic race that he had his first fall, what a sporting tragedy, especially in perhaps the last competition that the Nordic combined athletes were allowed to show at the Winter Games. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) is considering removing the discipline from the program in 2030 in the French Alps due to weak TV ratings and insufficient marketing opportunities. The combiners have never been there anyway. It is the only sport at the Winter Games where there is no gender equality. The scenario for the 2030 Winter Games is: either women will start and Men in the Nordic Combined – or the sport will be canceled completely. With fatal structural consequences. The IOC will probably decide on this question in June.

There was a lot of protest this winter against the possible end of the traditional sport, which has been part of the Olympic program since 1924 – at least for men. Many combined athletes, such as Nathalie Armbruster, the overall World Cup winner in 2025, spoke out strongly about allowing women to compete in 2030. Most recently, the Minister of State for Sport and Volunteering, Christiane Schenderlein, said: “The Federal Government and I, as Minister of State for Sport, personally support the efforts of the German Olympic Sports Confederation to keep the Nordic Combined as part of the Olympic competition program,” Schenderlein said on Wednesday: “For me, the question of the future of the Nordic Combined cannot be answered by removing the sport from the Olympic canon, but by adding women.”

Rydzek no longer challenges this himself, even though he has repeatedly campaigned for the integration of women in recent years – and wants to continue to fight for it. The 34-year-old had already emphasized before these Winter Games that these would be his last. The two-time Olympic champion in Pyeongchang probably couldn’t have imagined that it would end in such a way that he would have to comfort Geiger in his arms at the finish.

“Only the Olympics write stories like this,” Rydzek had said the day before when his sister Coletta and Laura Gimmler won bronze in the cross-country team sprint. A day later he stated: “Unfortunately, those too.” After the very promising jump from the large hill, Rydzek had still forecast full of hope: “Vinz will cope well in the deep snow. And if he knows what’s at stake, he’ll be the most difficult opponent on the finish line.” But ultimately there was no happy ending to this Olympic story. It was the deep snow that became Geiger’s biggest nightmare.