Nordic allrounders to return to summer action

The 2018 edition of the men’s Nordic Combined Summer Grand Prix features four venues in three different countries, just like in 2017. This time, the journey goes from Oberwiesenthal (GER) to Villach (AUT), Oberstdorf (GER) and Planica (SLO).

A total of six Individual Gundersen events will be held, joined by one Team Sprint to kick the summer off in style in Oberwiesenthal. Here, Czech Republic’s Tomas Portyk and Miroslav Dvorak celebrated a triumph last year and will look to defend their victory against the strong local heroes from Germany, who are joining the event with a strong 10-man squad.

Among them are Nordic Combined stars Johannes Rydzek, who is especially looking forward to his home events in Oberstdorf, and Fabian Rießle but also a group of young guns out for first glory like Martin Hahn, Tim Kopp, Jakob Lange, who returns after a long break due to sickness, David Welde and local hero Terence Weber.  Legend and crowd magnet Eric Frenzel will also be part of the event, after announcing that he would go back to representing his childhood club SSV Geyer right before the Grand Prix.

In terms of the Individual Gundersen events, Austria’s Mario Seidl had a strong run last year, winning three of the six individual events held. He missed the Summer Grand Prix victory only because he did not start in the finals in Planica, underlining one of the most important differences to the winter World Cup events: only an athlete taking part in all Summer Grand Prix events can take home the title of overall winner and the biggest part of the 14.000 EUR prize money that the top three athletes of the summer receive for their efforts.

After a mid-week event in Villach, Austria, the first part of the Summer Grand Prix 2017 will be concluded with two events in Oberstdorf where the senior athletes will once more be joined by the FIS Youth Cup. The young Nordic Combined athletes - male and female - will have the first event of their summer season and can look forward to joint prize giving ceremonies with the Summer Grand Prix athletes again.

A week earlier than last year to accommodate the FIS Autumn Meetings, the finals in Planica are scheduled four weeks after the Oberstdorf weekend concludes: from the 20th to the 23rd of September. The newly minted hosts of the 2023 FIS Nordic World Championships will welcome the elite of the Nordic Combined sport again for two individual events, won by Norwegian Nordic Combined great Magnus Moan in the past autumn. Who will enter the winner’s lists of all events is everyone’s guess but one thing is for sure: it will be great to see the Nordic allrounders return to competition mode again.

The program - men’s (for the ladies programme see here)

OBERWIESENTHAL

Friday 17.08.

18:00 Official training HS 106

20:00 Provisional Competition Round HS 106

Saturday 18.08.

14:30 Trial Round HS 106

15:30 TEAM SPRINT Competition Round HS 106

19:00 TEAM SPRINT 2x 7.5 km cross-country race

Sunday 19.08.

10:00 Trial Round HS 106

11:00 INDIVIDUAL GUNDERSEN Competition Round HS 106

14:00 INDIVIDUAL GUNDERSEN 10 km cross-country race

VILLACH

Tuesday 21.08.

17:00 Official training HS 98

19:00 Provisional Competition Round HS 98

Wednesday 22.08.

16:00 Trial Round HS 108

17:00 INDIVIDUAL GUNDERSEN Competition Round HS 98

19:00 INDIVIDUAL GUNDERSEN 10 km cross-country race

OBERSTDORF

Thursday 23.08.

18:00 Official training HS 137

following Provisional Competition Round HS 137

Friday 24.08.

18:00 Trial Round HS 137

19:00 INDIVIDUAL GUNDERSEN Competition Round HS 137

20:30 INDIVIDUAL GUNDERSEN 10 km cross-country race

Saturday 25.08.

18:00 Trial Round HS 137

19:00 INDIVIDUAL GUNDERSEN Competition Round HS 137

20:30 INDIVIDUAL GUNDERSEN 10 km cross-country race

PLANICA

Friday, 21.09.

15:00 Official Training HS 138

17:00 Provisional Competition Round HS 138

18:00 Official roller ski training

Saturday 22.09.

10:00 Trial Round HS 138

11:00 INDIVIDUAL GUNDERSEN Competition Round HS 138

13:00 INDIVIDUAL GUNDERSEN 10 km cross-country race

Sunday 23.09.

10:00 Trial Round HS 138

11:00 INDIVIDUAL GUNDERSEN Competition Round HS 138

13:00 INDIVIDUAL GUNDERSEN 10 km cross-country race

Quick Facts:

HILLS

Fichtelbergschanze, Oberwiesenthal

HS 106

Villacher Alpenarena HS 98

HS 108

Audi Arena, Oberstdorf

HS 137

Velikanka, Planica Nordic Center

HS 138

TRACKS

Oberwiesenthal

2x 5x 1.5 km roller-ski city loop Team Sprint

6x 1.775 km roller-ski city loop Individual Gundersen

Villach

4x 2.5 km roller-ski loop Villacher Alpenarena

Erdinger Arena/Oberstdorf

6x 1.75 km roller-ski city loop

Planica

5x 2 km roller-ski loop Planica Nordic Center