Happy: Jarl Magnus Riiber
Photo: Image/Eibner
Like a gladiator, Jarl Magnus Riiber stood with the arms raised behind the finish line in the granases ski stadium of Trondheim. He enjoyed the cheers of a total of 50,000 Norwegians for minutes, who celebrated his triumph fanatic at the Compact individual race. It was Riiber’s second gold medal at the home world championship after the mixed triumph on Friday. There were tears in his eyes, because this major event in Norway will be the last for the undisputed king of the Nordic combiners. The only 27-year-old man suffers from the chronic inflammatory bowel disease Crohn’s disease and will end his career after the season.
“It was very emotional. I sacrificed so much and have only spent a week with my family for a week since October. That is far too little, «said Riiber after the triumph. In the past few months he had been isolated almost permanently from his partner Sunna Margret Tryggvadottir and the children Ronja (4) and Birk (soon one year old). It was the prerequisite for being successful again at his last World Cup. Riiber’s already susceptible immune system is further weakened by the medication for Crohn’s disease, every infection would have hopelessly thrown it back in the fight for gold.
“Only a few know how many victims cost me to become the best combinator in the world. I had numerous injuries in my career – broken ankles and knees, eight times their shoulder, weak lungs, pain and much more, «Riiber told a few weeks ago. When he received the diagnosis of Crohn’s disease, the puzzle of his numerous illnesses of recent years came together. Chronic inflammation affects the immune system massively and can also lead to limbs and tendon pain up to depression.
“It has never been as bad as it has been since October last year. My body tightened and just didn’t work as usual. I was just not the same athlete as last winter, «says Riiber about his fight against the disease.
Nobody in the history of winter two-fighter has ever dominated as the 78-time World Cup winner, who, primarily, dominated the competition thanks to outstanding jumping performance. This season, the “extraterrestrial” riiber suffered bitter defeats after his disease diagnosis, especially through the German Vinzenz Geiger.
“My medicine helps me to fight the disease,” said Riiber: “But I fight to find the balance.” He succeeded at the World Cup in Trondheim. In the individual race, in the target sprint, he succumbed to his Norwegian successor Jens Lura’s frequentebro and bronze winner Geiger. Geiger grants him: “I am happy if I can annoy him. But there is no discussion: Jarl is the best of all time, «said the German Olympic champion about his great competitor Riiber. However, Riiber, as ten World Cup titles, will still remain an unfinished combiner of all time-he lacks an Olympic victory in his unique trophy collection.
“I don’t care,” Riiber said at his withdrawal press conference and revealed his motivation secret: “What drove me for the Nordic combination was Eric Frenzel and his yellow jersey. That was most important to me in my career. That was what motivated me to go out and train two or three times a day to become the best athlete in the world in the Nordic combination. «The three-time Olympic champion Frenzel was the most successful winter two-fighter with seven World Cup titles and celebrated five overall World Cup victories. Riiber has now caught up with the Germans in this most important evaluation of the large crystal balls and will duel after the World Cup with Vinzenz Geiger for his historic sixth overall World Cup victory.
Eric Frenzel is now a national coach. If you ask him about Riiber, you can feel the great competition of the two legends, which symbolizes the eternal duel between Norway and Germany in the Nordic combination. »Jarl has raised the sport to a new level. He is fanatic and does a lot right, «commented Frenzel in Trondheim.
In Frenzel’s words, Riiber was never undisputed in the scene. He often more than scored the limits of what was allowed in the material in terms of material, as last winter, with his oversized jump suit. But that is also part of it to become an exceptional athlete like him.
His resignation was as radical as Riiber deals with his health and the competition. “Now it’s a good time to start a new chapter in my life. The Olympic season would have required even more victims and the chances were only 50:50 that my body worked for another year. ”Even partner Sunna was” very surprised “by the decision of her extremely ambitious husband, as Riiber revealed. He is experiencing his personal happy end after the most difficult decision of his life – as a gladiator of Trondheim.