Germany's Johannes Rydzek wins Nordic combined event at worlds
Johannes Rydzek of Germany beat Alessandro Pittin of Italy in a two-man sprint to the finish Friday to win the Nordic combined normal hill event at the Nordic skiing world championships.
Rydzek and Pittin pulled away from five other skiers on the final kilometer of the 10K cross-country race and the German had the stronger finish to earn his first world title after getting three silver medals in 2011. He finished in 26 minutes, 38.9 seconds, beating Pittin by 1.3 seconds.
Defending world champion Jason Lamy Chappuis of France was third while Olympic champion Eric Frenzel of Germany had to settle for fourth after leading following the ski jump portion.
Rydzek was fifth after the ski jump and started the cross-country race 31 seconds behind Frenzel, while Pittin started 1 minute, 16 seconds back.
