Akito Watabe came up short in his bid for a third straight win and placed fourth at a Nordic combined World Cup meet on Wednesday.
With the ski jumping leg canceled because of snow showers and strong winds, the preliminary jump score from the previous day was used, meaning Watabe, who placed fifth, went into the cross country leg with a 61-second deficit.
Watabe moved up one place in the rankings and finished 22.7 seconds behind Eric Frenzel, who came from behind to win his eighth title of the season and led Germany to a sweep of the podium.
Johannes Rydzek took second place and Fabian Riessle was third.
"It was snowing really hard and nobody could ski well. It all came down to a battle of endurance," Watabe said.