Jarl Magnus Riiber made a wrong turn on the cross-country course and his lead vanished by the time he realized and made it back.
Matthias Schrader/AP Images
Not being able to practice at the Beijing Olympics proved costly for Norway's Jarl Magnus Riiber.
One of the best Nordic combined skiers in the world, Riiber competed in the combined large hill/10km on Tuesday, his first race of the Olympics after a two-week isolation for COVID-19. He had missed his first event of the games and every training session before being cleared on Monday afternoon in Beijing.
On Tuesday, Riiber built a 44-second lead in the 10km race after a 140 meter jump on the large hill.
However, upon reaching a fork in the 2.5km loop in the cross-country portion, Riiber took a wrong turn, going right toward the finish line instead of a left to continue the loop.
According to The Wall Street Journal's Ben Cohen, European broadcast announcers immediately flagged it, with one shouting, "What a mistake!"
According to Cohen, Riiber went about 50 yards before realizing his mistake. He turned back around, but his lead vanished. He finished in eighth place.
"It's a silly mistake," Riiber said afterward, according to the BBC. "It's not fun to show the world that I maybe wasted a gold medal."
Riiber blamed the mistake on his COVID isolation.
"I had been locked inside for two weeks, not breathing fresh air. My body is not working. Normally, I'm one of the better skiers and today I was just bad."
Aaron Favila/AP Images
According to Cohen, Riiber also took a wrong turn in the 2016 world cup and lost out on a gold medal.
Prior to the 10km on Tuesday, Riiber even suggested that he might not be ready for the cross-country portion of the event.
"I'm probably not in such good shape for the cross-country part," Riiber said. Unfortunately, he was right.
