Winter Olympic gold medal after going in the wrong direction?Remarkably, that's what happened to Norwegian star Jarl Magnus Riiber during the men's Nordic combined in Beijing.
Riiber threw away a 44-second lead to miss out on a medal in the cross-country ski section of the event after taking a wrong turn.The 24-year-old from Oslo had a nightmare beginning to his time in Beijing after being forced into hotel isolation due to Covid.That meant he missed the first Nordic combined event on the normal hill - putting him at a huge disadvantage.But after being released from quarantine, he dominated the ski jumping round to gain a big lead over Estonia's Kristjan Ilves and Japanese star Yamamoto Ryota.That put him in pole position heading into the cross-country race, where the points earned in the ski jump round translate into a time handicap, meaning Riiber went off first in a staggered start.
So far so good - except the Norwegian made a scarcely believable error at the end of the first lap as he took a wrong turn and ended up going the wrong way.Have you ever missed out on something by going the wrong way?
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