“I was still feeling good going into the final lap. Even though I didn’t feel as good skiing today as I did in the individual competitions, I was as fresh as possible going into the final battle. I didn’t get caught, but my opponent was tough.”
—Eero Hirvonen, Olympic bronze and silver medalist, speaking to the Finnish Olympic Committee
Ilkka Herola and Eero Hirvonen capped their competition with Olympic silver in the Nordic combined team event at the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics on Thursday.
Finland’s first skier, Herola, began the cross-country portion in fourth place, trailing Germany—the leader after ski jumping—by 27 seconds. He was just six seconds behind third place and managed to catch up with Japan within the initial 1.5 kilometers.
The gap to the leader narrowed to 17.7 seconds after the initial changeover and further reduced to 14 seconds following Hirvonen’s first exchange.
Japan started to lose ground during Herola’s penultimate leg, the seventh, when the pace noticeably picked up following the skiing stage.
At the beginning of the third leg, Herola caught up with Austria’s Stefan Rettenegger. Japan remained in contention as well, leaving five countries competing for medals.
Finally, Herola pulled away at the top of the last hill and let Hirvonen fight for gold with Norway’s Jens Luraas Oftebro in the lead.
The gold was decided in the final stretch, where Hirvonen lost by narrow 0.5 seconds.
Hirvonen and Herola, both aged 30, earned their first individual Olympic medals at the Milan-Cortina Games. Hirvonen secured bronze in the normal hill event, while Herola claimed bronze in the large hill event.
Prior to the Milan-Cortina Games, Finnish athletes had won 14 Olympic medals in the combined event.
With Herola’s and Hirvonen’s successes, the total rose to 17.
