1ST LEAD Rydzek leads rampant Germans to Olympic Nordic combined sweep By John Bagratuni, dpa

Pyeongchang, South Korea (dpa) - Four-time 2017 world champion Johannes Rydzek took gold ahead of Fabian Riessle and Eric Frenzel as Germany claimed a first medal sweep in Olympic Nordic combined skiing in 82 years at the Pyeongchang Games on Tuesday night.Norway were the last to do so with a fourth consecutive one-two-three finish in 1936. Germany also had three on the podium in 1976 but there East German Ulrich Wehling won from West German Urban Hettich and East German Konrad Winkler.The big success underlined that the Germans had returned to form into time for the Olympics after a modest season so far by their standards - after completely dominating the past season and claiming all four 2017 world titles."I didn‘t think about anything on the last metres, I just gave it all I had - heart and power," Rydzek said after his first Olympic gold."It was an unbelievable day for us - and for our sport. We are all pretty flashed." The normal hill event gold medallist Frenzel, Rydzek and Riessle had paved the way to the treble with good ski-jumping in positions four, five and six behind Japan‘s World Cup leader Akito Watabe, Norway‘s Jarl Magnus Riiber and Austria‘s Wilhelm Denifl going into the 10-kilometres cross-country pursuit.They caught up with the leaders in the second half of the race, and stormed ahead past Riiber on the last uphill.Rydzek was strongest in the final sprint to win in 23 minutes 52.5 seconds with Riessle 0.4 seconds off the pace and Frenzel another 4 tenths back, missing a third personal gold. Riiber trailed by 2.8 seconds and Watabe missed a first major title yet again in fifth place.Coach Hermann Weinbuch said he was just "proud" of his men, and Vinzent Geiger‘s seventh place underlined that the Germans are top favourites to sweep the three Pyeongchang golds with a final success in Thursday‘s team event."If we perform up to our standard we are definitely right at the top," Geiger said.