VAL DI FIEMME, Italy (AP) — Eric Frenzel won an individual Nordic combined event Thursday for Germany's first medal of the world championships, beating Bernhard Gruber of Austria by 36.7 seconds.

Defending champion Jason Lamy-Chappuis of France was third, 37.2 seconds behind Frenzel.

Frenzel led from start to finish in the cross-country after earning 144.1 points with a jump of 138.5 meters on the large hill.

He started 14 seconds ahead of nearest challenger Cristoph Bieler and soon extended his lead to nearly half a minute. Frenzel increased his advantage to more than a minute before slowing down on the final straight to wave to the crowd as he crossed the line.