After an extremely successful preseason, the German combined athletes are now starting the Olympic winter. However, many things are still open. What is the shape? Who adapted best to the new rules? And anyway: What’s next for the Nordic Combined in general?
The Winter Olympics in Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo next February could be fateful for Nordic combined. Because it could be the last for the traditional sport, which celebrated its Olympic premiere in 1924. There is still a risk that the status as an Olympic sport will be withdrawn.
But the German combined athletes don’t waste much thought on this shortly before the start of the season. This weekend, the first competitions of the winter for men are on the program in Kuusamo, Finland – more precisely in the Ruka winter sports center. Then Johannes Rydzek, Julian Schmid and Co. can finally compete with the other athletes again and take an initial assessment of their position.
National coach Frenzel: “A lot is still open”
Because currently “It is difficult to assess how our performance level compares internationally. In the last few weeks we have only had a few comparisons with other nations during training”explains men’s national coach Eric Frenzel. Although the 37-year-old is satisfied with the preparation and condition of his protégés, many other factors also play a role: “With regard to the material changes, it will also be interesting to see how the nations have developed and how individual athletes are coping with them. In this respect, a lot is still open.”
National coach Eric Frenzel
As with the special jumpers, the combined jumpsuits came into focus after the scandal surrounding the Norwegian team’s cheating at the Nordic World Ski Championships in Trondheim. Even if no manipulation was detected, the combiners will now have to undergo stricter controls.
World Cup defending champion Geiger still has to watch
One name missing from the first roster of the winter is Vinzenz Geiger. The winner of the overall World Cup in the previous season suffered three bony ligament tears on his right foot during training and will probably only be able to make his comeback at the World Cup in Ramsau (Austria) shortly before Christmas. Accordingly, he doesn’t want to have anything to do with defending his title – even if Jarl Magnus Riiber, probably the best combiner of all time, is no longer there after his retirement.
“If I miss Kuusamo and Trondheim, I’ll miss five individual competitions. It’s actually impossible to catch up.”explained Geiger in the podcast “Ski happens”: “We don’t have that many World Cups.” The Oberstdorf native believes that the absence of superstar Riiber will give the World Cup a new dynamic: “Jarl has changed our sport with his extremely strong ski jumping performances. The top favorite is gone. First place will now be contested much more often than before.”
The Olympic future should become clear this winter
The combined athletes will also not be at the start in Finland yet. They don’t start the Olympic winter until a week later in Trondheim. For the athletes around overall World Cup winner Nathalie Armbruster, the highlight of the season will not take place in Fiemme Valley, but almost 110 kilometers as the crow flies further north in Seefeld at the Nordic Combined. Because women are still not part of the Olympic program, Nordic combined is the only sport in Italy in which only men compete. Armbruster is correspondingly frustrated with this “simply unfair” Situation: “Excluding women in the 21st century is simply a no-go”said the 19-year-old in an interview with BR24Sport.
After the Winter Games, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) wants to make a decision whether the women will receive Olympic status or the combination will be removed from the program. Geiger sees his sport accordingly “under observation”. You have to now “a lot of advertising” to prevent the worst possible scenario. “The IOC looks closely at the level of audience interest both live on the tracks and on linear television and online”said DSV sports director Horst Hüttel in the DOSB interview. Geiger has a clear opinion on this: “I am angry with the IOC because I find it incomprehensible that this discussion is being held.”
With a squad of eight through Finland’s forests
This topic will initially only play a minor role in Ruka at the weekend. Then it’s about showing who made the best use of the summer to work on the technology and the material. Or as national coach Frenzel puts it: “Now the boys can fight against each other again and show their form.”
His “Guys” are initially an eight-man squad consisting of David Mach (TSV Buchenberg), Simon Mach (TSV Buchenberg), Johannes Rydzek (SC Oberstdorf), Julian Schmid (SC Oberstdorf), Tristan Sommerfeldt (WSC Erzgebirge Oberwiesenthal), Richard Stenzel (SC Motor Zella-Mehlis), Wendelin Thannheimer (SC Oberstdorf) and Terence Weber (SSV Geyer).
They have three competitions coming up in the Finnish forests. After qualification and the provisional competition jump (PCR) on Thursday, the season starts on Friday with an individual compact race over 7.5 kilometers. The Gundersen competition over 10 kilometers takes place on Saturday, followed by the mass start on Sunday, in which a 10-kilometer run is completed and then the ski jump. Then you will have a first impression of whether they are “decent job” (Frenzel) already pays off and where you stand in comparison to the top nations.