The Nordic combination is looking for more excitement. The World Ski Association has created a new format that is intended to ensure more balance between ski jumping and cross-country skiing. It’s causing trouble in athletic circles.
The Nordic Combined World Cup opener on Friday (November 24th, 11:00 a.m.) in Ruka, Finland starts with an innovative competition format. In the “Individual Compact Race” the time intervals are not determined based on the jump distances as before, but based on the placement after the jump. The best ski jumper gets 6 seconds ahead of the runner-up. The distances towards the back become smaller and smaller, so that the entire field is within 90 seconds. Instead of 10, you only run 7.5 kilometers.
Frenzel hopes for more opportunities Cross-country skiing specialists
The world association FIS is reacting to the development of Nordic combined in recent years. The best jumpers recently gained larger and larger leads on the hill, so that competitions were often decided before the race even started. “If the entire field is within one and a half minutes, we will then have a situation where stronger runners will hopefully have a better chance of moving further forward,” said three-time Olympic champion Eric Frenzel about the “compact race”. Sport in the East-Interview. The native of Saxony, currently national coach of the German combined athletes, also hopes that the reform will lead to increased catch-up races, as we have seen in the past.
Criticism from Riiber, Geiger expects more excitement
But the innovative racing format doesn’t just generate enthusiasm. Jarl Magnus Riiber, the high-flyer of the Nordic combined in recent years, sees the new format as distorting competition. In his opinion, no stronger jumper could fully utilize his qualities. The Norwegian continued to describe the new format as a hopeless concept.
High-flyer Jarl Magnus Riiber criticizes the “compact race”.
The German Olympic champion Vinzenz Geiger sees it differently. “It will definitely be exciting. But it doesn’t mean that good runners will automatically win.” In his opinion, the race constellation and group distribution will decide the races.
Lots of movement in the Nordic Combined
Out of fear for him Exclusion from the Olympic Games The “NoKo” has been the World Ski Association FIS for a long time Striving for reforms for a while. The new format seems to be a further step towards becoming more attractive. A total of four “compact races” will be held in the 2023/24 season, the first on Friday (November 24th) in Ruka, Finland. At three other World Cup locations, Ramsau, Oberstdorf and Seefeld, people are also looking forward to the new competition format. There was already a race according to the new rules in the summer. The winner back then: the German Johannes Rydzek.
cpr/red
