(Reuters) – Norway’s Jarl Magnus Riiber, the most successful Nordic combined athlete of all time, has announced he will retire at the end of the season and will not compete at next year’s Milan-Cortina Games.
Riiber, 27, who has the overall Nordic combined record of 76 individual World Cup wins and eight world championships gold medals, was recently diagnosed with Crohn’s disease, a chronic inflammatory condition in the digestive system.
“That illness came as a bit of a surprise to me. I didn’t understand the extent of it at the time,” he told a press conference on Wednesday, adding that spending more time with his family also played a role in his decision to retire.
“The health situation eats up the surplus, governs all choices and priorities. I feel like a prisoner at the moment and priorities are taking away time from what matters most to me.”
While Riiber has not won an Olympic gold medal, he was considered a favourite in the Nordic combined events at the upcoming Games, having won four gold medals at the 2023 World Championships.
(Reporting by Tommy Lund in Gdansk; Editing by Andrew Cawthorne)
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