1ST LEAD Germans complete Nordic combined sweep for record 13th gold By John Bagratuni, dpa

Pyeongchang, South Korea (dpa) - Johannes Rydzek almost tripped on the home stretch as he tried to unfurl a German flag to celebrate the completion of an Olympic Nordic combined sweep with team event gold on Thursday.But even a fall wouldn‘t have changed the outcome as Rydzek was almost a minute clear of his nearest rivals at the end of the 4x5-kilometres cross-country pursuit as he clinched what was also a record 13th gold for Germany at one Games.Vinzenz Geiger, Fabian Riessle, Eric Frenzel and Rydzek completed the Pyeongchang victory hat-trick ahead of 2014 winners Norway and Austria, after Germany had also swept all four golds at last year‘s world championships."It is an unbelievable day for us. After Sochi, where we were beaten narrowly [by Norway in 2014], this is very special, and we will cherish it. We didn‘t get distracted and just pushed through," Frenzel said.Coach Hermann Weinbuch praised his athletes, who have returned to form in South Korea after a modest World Cup campaign earlier in the season."It has been a little shaky this year but we always believed in ourselves," Weinbuch said.Frenzel had earlier won the normal hill event and Rydzek the large hill competition before the first team event gold since 1988 made Germany the first nation since the 2002 Finland team and their star Samppa Lajunen to get all three golds.Frenzel drew level with Lajunen, Austria‘s Felix Gottwald and East Germany‘s Frank Wehling on a record three golds overall in the sport while Rydzek picked up his second gold.Frenzel and Rydzek had an easy task in the relay as, after placing second in the large hill jumping portion, Geiger turned a six-second deficit on Austria into a 12-second advantage at the first exchange, which the large hill silver medallist Riessle raised to 42 seconds."I wanted to get a gap and that worked quite well," Geiger said.Frenzel added another 18 seconds and Rydzek was already given the flag on the last back straight after entering the stadium, crossing the line after the near stumble in 46 minutes 9.8 seconds for gold after 2014 silver and 2010 bronze.Norway finished 52.7 seconds back for silver and Austria, winners in 2006 and 2010, were 1:07.8 minutes off for bronze.