In a thrilling finish in the 10-kilometer cross-country race, Jens Luraas Oftebro sped to snatch Norway's first Olympic title in the Nordic combined individual normal hill contest since 1998. Heading into the finish area, Jens Luraas Oftebro had a slight lead over Austrian medal favorite Johannes Lamparter. Lamparter tried to catch up but ultimately finished 2nd, just one second behind the Norwegian.
"I’m really happy about this medal. It was not an easy race, the conditions were really tough with deep snow," Lamparter said of winning his first Olympic medal after narrowly missing the podium twice in Beijing. "The last two days I was thinking I may not be good enough in those conditions, so I am really relieved after that."
Finland's Eero Hirvonen broke away from the chase group to slide into bronze-medal position, over 15 seconds ahead of the next closest skier, Austrian Stefan Rettenegger.
"After this difficult season and two difficult years, it is quite unbelievable that I did it today. I always believed I had the confidence to do it, but to do it here like this, I need to process it a bit," Hirvonen said.
The quest for gold isn't quite over for Stefan Rettenegger. He's ready to tackle the next Nordic combined event: individual large hill on Tuesday, Feb. 17.
"The big hill suits me more and there will hopefully be a bit colder conditions, with a bit better track, and hopefully, the second week works out a little bit better for me," Stefan Rettenegger said.
His older brother, Thomas Rettenegger, lost the lead he gained by finishing 2nd in the ski jumping segment, placing 9th.
Shortly after the 6.2-kilometer mark, Jens Luraas Oftebro appeared to clip the back of Hirvonen's skis, losing his footing and running into a course barrier. It barely disrupted his momentum. He quickly recovered and led the pack a few seconds later. The pair were seen congratulating each other at the finish line with no hard feelings.
"I almost crashed in the third loop where there was so much happening, so I felt pretty OK and was happy that I could get a gap in the last climb so I could reach the finish line first," Jens Luraas Oftebro said.
Many athletes familiar with racing on colder, dryer Scandinavian snow for World Cup events found it hard to adjust to the warm, mushy snow in Tesero, Italy.
Jens Luraas Oftebro's older brother, Einar Luraas Oftebro, is a stronger skier than ski jumper but fell behind during the cross-country section, finishing 12th — five spots from where he started the race in.
"It was insanely tough out there. We spent almost half an hour on the course. I’d done a good job with the jumping but it was incredibly heavy out there," Jens Luraas Oftebro said. "The more you go on the snow, the deeper down in it you get. It was tricky to get the pace up and I am very pleased to end up with the gold. I’m super proud of myself."
Storied German Vinzenz Geiger was tucked in the back of the chase group for most of the race before dropping away to finish 10th in a photo finish over Japan's Akito Watabe — 1 minute and 52 seconds behind Jens Luraas Oftebro.
Estonian Kristjan Ilves led the field after the jumping segment and held his lead through the first lap of the race, but ultimately placed 6th.
Americans Benjamin Loomis and Niklas Malacinski finished 17th and 18th, just 0.7 seconds apart.
Nordic combined individual normal hill medalists
🥇Jens Luraas Oftebro (NOR)
🥈Johannes Lamparter (AUT)
🥉Eero Hirvonen (FIN)
Nordic combined continues with the individual large hill event on Tuesday, Feb. 17. The ski jumping segment begins at 3 a.m. ET, followed by the cross-country race at 7:45 a.m. ET. It can be seen live on NBCOlympics.com and Peacock.