Jarl Magnus Riiber makes more history with first Ruka mass start win at World Cup, Matteo Baud second

Jarl Magnus Riiber took victory in the mass start event in Ruka to win two World Cup events in a row and move to 51 titles.

Riiber had taken an advantage into the ski jump after winning the mass start by a narrow margin from Jens Luraas Oftebro.

His impressive jump saw him maintain top position while Matteo Baud and Ryota Yamamoto sailed up the standings to round out the podium.

Germany’s Julian Schmid and Vinzenz Geiger traded the lead in the early laps of the 10km before Eero Hirvonen caused excitement among the Finnish crowd as he entered the stadium in front with 2.5km to go.

Riiber showed his class on the final lap to pull away on the climb, but still had to hold off the challenge of fellow Norwegian Oftebro who came home just 0.8 seconds behind him.

Johannes Rydzek completed the top three but neither he nor Oftebro could keep their podium place after the ski jumping round.

Riiber jumped the joint-second furthest distance, his 145m effort 2m behind Austria’s Mario Seidl who ended in eighth.

He was matched by Matteo Baud of France who surged to second place having ended in 18th position after the cross-country event.

The podium was completed by blue bib wearer Ryota Yamamoto of Japan whose effort of 140.5 metres put him just 0.5 points behind Baud.

A fifth-place finish in the final event of the opening weekend sees Friday’s winner Julian Schmid of Germany preserve his lead at the top of the World Cup standings.

Riiber sits only seven points behind him as the World Cup heads to his home event in Lillehammer next weekend. and available on the ITV Hub.