Julian Schmid holds off Ryota Yamamoto to secure maiden 5km nordic combined World Cup victory in Ruka’s event opener

Julian Schmid usurped Ryota Yamamoto in the 5km race to claim his maiden World Cup victory in the opening nordic combined event of the season in Ruka.

With a leap of 143.5m and an overall score of 159.4 points, Japanese ace Yamamoto held an eight-second race advantage after the ski jump.

Schmid sat in second place while Mario Seidl – who was victorious in Thursday’s PCR – was in third at the halfway stage, though was starting his race 44 seconds behind Yamamoto.

The German was the only person close enough to likely challenge Yamamoto and after a storming start to his ski, he moved ahead at the 2.5km mark.

And despite staying in touching distance, Yamamoto was unable to regain the lead as Schmid claimed victory by 5.9 seconds.

Jens Oftebro finished in third after a superb finish, overtaking Seidl and finishing 11 seconds behind Schmid to seal a podium spot.

It proved to be a disappointing afternoon for pre-event favourite Jarl Magnus Riiber, who was down in 18th following the ski jump and ultimately finished 14th – despite achieving the fastest ski of the competition.