A good jump of 107 metres gave Japan's Akito Watabe the lead after the ski jumping competion, providing him with an eight second head-start going into the cross-country leg.

Frenzel lay in second place but swiftly made up the gap and skied alongside his rival for most of the way.

He broke clear in the closing stages, however, to win by 6.2 seconds in 11min 08.5sec.

"Seefeld is a good place for me," admitted the winner, winner of 10 of his 26 career World Cups there.

"I like the hill here, and I am usually doing very well on this track."

Germany's Fabian Rießle finished in a distant third 43.6 seconds behind after Norway's Jarl Riiber, who had originally crossed the finish line ahead of him, was disqualified due to missing transponders. 

Two more Germans, Johannes Rydzek and Manuel Faisst, finished fourth and fifth respectively.

On a bad day for Norway, four-time Olympic medallist Magnus Moan was disqualified during the ski jump for an equipment irregularity, also ruling him out for the two remaining events this weekend.

Only the top 50 finishers will be allowed to start in tomorrow's 10km gunderson event.