After the fantastic start to the season, the German Nordic combined athletes will be taking part in the World Cup in Ramsau at the end of the year. “It’s a very good place,” not only national coach Eric Frenzel knows.
The two-week break from competition was not entirely inconvenient for the German combined athletes. After the sometimes furious performances at the first two World Cups in Ruka and Lillehammer, the batteries were able to be charged and what had happened so far could be calmly processed. After all, that was a lot.
Vinzenz Geiger and Co. have already surpassed the disappointing last season by far. In each of the five races of the season, at least one DSV combined athlete was on the podium. Johannes Rydzek celebrated his first World Cup victory in almost six years. Vinzenz Geiger already has two victories to his name. And Julian Schmid seems to have taken out a podium subscription. Unsurprisingly, confidence is high before the last World Cup this year.
National coach Frenzel “confident”
“We can travel to Austria quite confidently“, announced national coach Eric Frenzel before the two competitions in Ramsau am Dachstein. The team stayed in Lillehammer after the races “A few good days of training“in Norway,”where we were able to jump and run in the best conditions to keep our form up.“
The last World Cup stop in 2024 comes in handy for the German combined athletes. “Ramsau has actually always been a very good place for us in the past“, said Frenzel, probably thinking primarily of Geiger.
The Beijing Olympic champion has never been more successful anywhere else. He won four of his twelve individual World Cup victories in Styria. The last two years ago. “One of my favorite weekends of the year is coming up“, exults the 27-year-old: “I have always achieved good results there in the past. I always enjoy going there (…) and hope that I can build on my achievements from the last few weeks.“
Performance increase while jumping
The prerequisite for this will once again be a good performance on the hill. The German athletes are always good for a top placement on the cross-country ski trail. In the past there were too many problems with jumping performance. This is exactly what was meticulously worked on over the summer, so that the German team is significantly improved in this discipline.
Rydzek was also able to build on his performance from previous days. Nevertheless, “The first three World Cup weekends drained my strength a bit“, explained the Olympic champion from Pyeongchang. “The stress has taken its toll on me, so let’s see what the body is still capable of.” Accordingly, the expectations are not “that high“.
Yellow jersey beckons
It starts on Friday (1:45 p.m. in the Sportschau live stream) with the mass start. So you first run and then jump. The classic Gundersen competition over 10 km follows on Saturday (9:40 a.m. in the live stream). If things go as well as last time, the yellow jersey could go back to the German team at the turn of the year.
Schmid (410 points), Geiger (382) and Rydzek (290) are currently behind Norwegian Jarl Magnus Riiber (440) in the overall standings. Like Geiger, the most successful combined athlete of all time with 74 World Cup victories already has two victories to his name. However, after health problems before the start of the season, he is not yet back to the performance level of previous days.
The German squad in Ramsau
- Men: Manuel Faißt (SV Baiersbronn), Vinzenz Geiger (SC Oberstdorf), David Mach (TSV Buchenberg), Johannes Rydzek (SC Oberstdorf), Julian Schmid (SC Oberstdorf), Tristan Sommerfeldt (WSC Erzgebirge Oberwiesenthal), Wendelin Thannheimer (SC Oberstdorf) , Terence Weber (SSV Geyer)
- Women: Nathalie Armbruster (SZ Kniebis), Maria Gerboth (WSV Schmiedefeld), Cindy Haasch (WSC 07 Ruhla), Ronja Loh (VSC Klingenthal), Jenny Nowak (SC Sohland), Svenja Würth (SV Baiersbronn), Trine Göpfert (WSV Reit im Winkl )