Oberhof hosts successful Youth Cup summer edition 2019

Not only did the German organisers of Oberhof make their return to the international competition calendar after 12 years on the past weekend but they also hosted the summer edition of the FIS Youth Cup with about 120 young athletes. This biggest gathering of Nordic Combined athletes ever has been termed the “Sommer Super Cup” by Nordic Combined fans.

After showing impressive performances on Oberhof’s HS 70 Wadeberg hill and two different roller ski courses, the young athletes crowned their winners at joint prize giving ceremonies with their idols from the FIS Nordic Combined Summer Grand Prix.

Youth I Girls: Double victory for Mariia Kuzmina (RUS)

Russia’s Mariia Kuzmina showed impressive performances on both competition days and claimed two victories.The fifth best ski jumping result, paired with best cross-country time had her cross the finish line 35.2 seconds ahead of Slovenia’s Nika Prevc, who had won the jumping event. Finland’s Alva Thors was third, finishing +44.8 seconds after Kuzmina. On the second day, Thors and Prevc switched spots on the podium and Thors claimed rank two four seconds ahead of Prevc.

Results Friday
Results Saturday

Youth I Boys: Paul Walcher (AUT) prevails

Also in the male category, the winner was the same on both days: Austrian Paul Walcher accepted the prizes out of the hands of Akito Watabe, Franz-Josef Rehrl & Co. and also won his events by being the fastest athlete on the track. Jumping ranks four and three set him up promisingly and then Walcher played all of his roller- skiing strength to cross the finish line 59 seconds ahead of Luis Laukner (GER) and +59.7 ahead of Fabian Østvold (NOR) on Friday and  a full minute ahead of Fabian Østvold (NOR) and +1:11.4 ahead of third-placed Jan John (CZE) on Saturday.

Results Friday
Results Saturday

Youth Girls II: Local hero Emilia Görlich delights audiences

Emilia Görlich from Lauscha also repeated Kuzmina’s and Walcher’s feat and won both events at her home Youth Cup in Oberhof. While she had to recover from only the 11th best jump on the first day to come back with the strongest cross-country time and take the longer of the two competition formats with an advantage of 20 seconds at the finish line, Görlich shared the jumping lead with Diana Fedorova on the second day. Even the shorter distance in Saturday’s sprint event, Görlich gained 31.1 seconds on the Russian to claim the win. Also on Friday, Fedorova was the runner-up and beat Annamajia Oinas to rank two, who in turn also claimed the remaining podium spot on Saturday.

Results Friday
Results Saturday

Youth II Boys: Baud and Karhumaa split victories

Only the Youth II Boys category had two different winners with France’s Matteo Baud and Finn Waltteri Karhumaa. A second place in the jumping ranking laid the foundation for Baud’s victory on the first event day. Setting the fifth-best cross-country time was enough to claim the win with an 18-second advantage at the finish line. Runner-up was Czech athlete Lukas Kohlberger, who had experienced Summer Grand Prix air in Oberwiesenthal the weekend before. Baud’s teammate Marco Heinis claimed position three, +21.8 seconds after Baud. On Saturday, Karhumaa set up a whirlwind catch-up race from position six in the jumping event. He stormed to the win with the fastest cross-country time and won 4.7 seconds ahead of Baud and +19.2 ahead of Heinis.

Results Friday
Results Saturday