Red Bull 400 season in full swing
Jul 01, 2019·Nordic Combined
Come summer time, athletes are not only jumping down green plastic hills, the different Red Bull 400 events which have groups of runners running up a ski jumping hill in the toughest 400 metre-race ever have become a welcome tradition, also for Nordic Combined athletes.
We had a look at the past and upcoming events and how some familiar names performed.
Lahti (FIN)
At this year’s lowest elevated venue (90 m above sea level), former Nordic Combined athlete and newly-minted technical delegate Han Hendrik Piho (EST) captured the third place, needing 9:39 to reach the top of Salpausselkä large hill in May 2019. Italy’s Raffaele Buzzi shows up in the result list with rank 17.
Copper Peak (USA) and the Okurayama jumping hill in Sapporo (JPN) hosted their own version with ski jumper Sarah Hendrickson winning the event in the USA.
Zakopane (POL)
Two Nordic Combined athletes stormed the podium running up the Wielka Krokiew hill in Zakopane on June 19th. Szczepan Kupczak was second in 03:53.50, while teammate Adam Cieslar captured the third rank in 04:00.30.
More events are planned for Nordic Combined venue Val di Fiemme (ITA) and Courchevel (FRA) on the 6th of July, with registrations still open until July 4th. Whistler also hosts on July 13, Titisee-Neustadt (GER) on July 20th, Strbske Pleso (SVK) on August 3rd, Bischofshofen on August 24. Another very tough run will take place on the ski flying hill in Planica (SLO) on September 14th. The season closes with a run up the Olympic ski jumping hill in Alpensia resort, PyeongChang (KOR).
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