In the first year after dominator Jarl Magnus Riiber’s retirement, the Austrian Johannes Lamparter’s great moment came. The NoKo star won big, won three World Cup crystal balls and also won three medals at the Winter Olympics. According to his own statement, the high-flyer is going into the new season “even hungrier”.
Johannes Lamparter collected 1,382 points in the Nordic Combined World Cup season, 153 more than Jens Lurås Oftebro, who lost out in the fight for the overall World Cup. For the Austrian, who crowned his season with two silver medals and one bronze at the Olympics in Italy, it was already the second big crystal ball of his career.
But the 24-year-old will by no means be satisfied with that. “I would almost say I’m even hungrier than before. You don’t run out of goals,” he announced in an interview with the “Kronen Zeitung”: “I’ll be going to Ruka again in November, so I’m definitely not happy with fourth place. I want to be the best combiner. A lot of things have to come together for that, but the hunger and passion are still there.”
NoKo: Lamparter could “stay there for another ten years”
For Lamparter, ending his career is out of the question for the time being – at least if the Nordic combined remains in the Olympic program in the future. “If it ends well, there’s nothing to stop me from staying with it for another ten years,” he said, commenting on the upcoming decision, which is due to be made in May. It is still unclear whether NoKo will still be there in 2023.
If the sport is no longer an Olympic sport, that could also affect his future plans, said the Austrian: “It’s always a question of energy. Lisa Hauser is quitting because she no longer has it to be able and willing to invest everything. If that’s the case for me, I’ll probably leave it alone. All or not at all! But I’m already planning on doing the Olympic Games twice more.”
Biathlete Hauser recently announced that she would end her career. Her greatest success is the world championship title in the mass start in 2021. In the same winter, the Austrian also won the individual World Cup.
