Young athletes win big in Oberstdorf

The ninth edition of the FIS Youth Cup in Obersdorf has been a resounding success. Almost 120 participants, boys and girls from 12 nations, came together for a big weekend of training, competing and getting to know each other.

Oberstdorf’s Chief of Sport, Hans Schmid, was impressed. “It is impressive to see what it developed into, from the beginnings almost ten years ago to what it is now. We are very proud of the event. I think it’s also important to not only focus on the competition activity but also see the shining eyes when they are together, when they are having fun with each other, struggle in English, it’s great to see what is happening between them.”

Two days of competitions in four different categories brought victories for Matic Hladnic (SLO, Youth I Boys, both days), Anna Jäkle (GER, Youth I Girls), Emily Schneider (GER, Youth I Girls), Jenny Nowak (GER, Youth II Girls, both days), Otto Niittykoski (FIN, Youth II Boys) and Perttu Reponen (FIN, Youth II Boys).

Friday:

Saturday:

Next to the competitions, the young athletes wer able to visit Oberstdorf’s ski flying hill and have some fun on an alpine coaster. The highlight of the weekend were the joint prize giving ceremonies that had the young athletes come in close contact with their idols. Eric Frenzel, Johannes Rydzek, Fabian Rießle and Mario Seidl did the honours and presented the young winners and the top six athletes of each category with their well-deserved awards.

After four Youth Cup events, the overall standings in the different categories look like this:

Youth I Boys:

Hannes Gehring (GER) 270, Arsi Tietavainen (FIN) 226, Matic Hladnic (SLO) 200

Youth I Girls:

Emilia Görlich (GER) 305, Anna-Maija Oinas (FIN) 191, Anna Jäkle (GER) 180

Youth II Girls:

Triinu Hausenberg (EST) 295, Jenny Nowak (GER), 200, Annemarii Bendi 185

Youth II Boys:

Otto Niittykoski (FIN) 150, Perttu Reponen (FIN) 100/ Petr Sablatura (CZE) 100, Piotr Kudzia (POL), 92