Who’ll go for the first gold in Seefeld?

After three days of training, the first Nordic Combined medal event of Seefeld 2019 is finally here. A gold, a silver and a bronze medal are up for grabs in the Individual Gundersen event from the HS 130 Bergisel large hill in Innsbruck and with the large hill, of course the strong jumpers are the talk of the town in terms of medal favourites.

Austrian local heroes Mario Seidl and Franz-Josef Rehrl have impressed on both of the two ski jumping training days they participated in. Seidl holds the top distance of all three days with this second training jump on Tuesday that ended at 133 metres. Also both other jumping rounds ended with the first place for Seidl, followed by teammate Franz-Josef Rehrl, who in turn topped both final training rounds on Thursday. In the Austrians’ absence on Wednesday, overall World Cup winner 2018/19 Jarl Magnus Riiber (NOR) and Go Yamamoto (JPN) won a round each but especially Riiber seemed to struggle in the final training with ranks eleven and fourteen only.

Still, of course also a strong skiing performance will be essential for success tomorrow and it remains to be seen who of the strong skiers can bring themselves into the most promising position at the start line in Seefeld.

Germany’s Johannes Rydzek is of course out to defend his 2017 title from Lahti but also 2014 Sochi Olympic Champion Jørgen Graabak has been in good shape in this winter and claimed some World Cup wins already. Japanese superstar Akito Watabe is looking to finally claim a big title of his own and the young Finnish athletes Ilkka Herola and Eero Hirvonen have entered the favourite group with impressive skiing performances this year, a Team Sprint victory in Lahti on the last weekend before the championships.

However, what experience from past medal event taught is, that with one perfect day, even surprising names can show up on top of the results lists. So in the end, the result of tomorrow’s competition is anyone’s guess but with an open field and many medal candidates one thing is for sure: an exciting event is awaiting us.

The programme

Friday, 22nd of February
09:30 Trial Round
10:30 Ind. Gundersen Competition Round HS 130
16:15 Ind. Gundersen 10 km cross-country race
19:00 Medal Ceremony

Quick Facts

HILL
Bergisel
HS 130

TRACK
4x 2.5 km loop
Blue Course
Total climb: 90 m
Maximum climb: 38 m
Height Difference: 39 m

Lahti 2017 podium
1. Johannes Rydzek (GER), 2. Akito Watabe (JPN), 3. Francois Braud (FRA)