Winter Olympics

Joergen Graabak Leads Norway to Gold in Nordic Combined, U.S. Finishes Sixth

Graabak became the first Olympian to win four gold medals in Nordic combined

Joergen Graabak
Getty

The celebration began early for Norway.

With a comfortable lead and no competition in sight in the final leg of cross country portion of the Nordic combined, Joergen Graabak raised his arms and cruised across the finish line to win gold for Norway.

The team of Graabak, Jens Luraas Oftebro, Espen Andersen and Espen Bjoernstad finished the large hill, 4x5km relay in a time of 50:45.1. Norway's 54.9 second margin of victory created a thrilling race for second, as Germany's Vinzenz Geiger won a late sprint over Japan's Ryota Yamamoto by the slimmest of margins to take silver with a time of 51:40.0. Japan finished in 51:40.3 to take bronze.

The United States team of Jasper Good, Taylor Fletcher, Ben Loomis and Jared Shumate finished sixth with a time of 53:07.1. The U.S., which began the cross country event 1:58 off pace following the ski jump, finished behind fourth-place Austria (51:44.7) and fifth-place France (53:00.1).

The U.S. finished seventh in the ski jump portion of the event with 387.1 points as Loomis received a score of 113.1 points, Shumate a 108.1, Fletcher an 85.0 and Good an 80.9.

Austria had placed first in the ski jump with 475.4 points to open the cross country event with an eight second advantage over Norway. That time was easily made up en route to a gold-medal victory for Norway.

It was the sixth medal overall for Graabak, who became the first Olympian to win four gold medals in Nordic combined.

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