Returning to Nordic Combined with a bang
May 09, 2019·Nordic Combined
After an absence of 12 years, Oberhof in Thuringia, Germany is set to return to Nordic Combined. Provided the Nordic Combined Committee and FIS Council confirm the planned calendar at the FIS Calendar Conference in Cavtat-Dubrovnik at the end of May, Oberhof will return with a bang:
The once-traditional Nordic Combined venue will host one of the biggest gatherings of Nordic Combined athletes ever. The men’s and ladies’ Summer Grand Prix will be on location as part of a week-long mid-German tour from Oberwiesenthal to Klingenthal and to Oberhof and the FIS Youth Cup will also descend on the heights of the Thuringian Forest and be able to meet their idols up close.
“As a federal state, we are supporting Oberhof not only as a winter sports destination but as an important place for tourism”, Thuringian prime minister Bodo Ramelow, who was named patron of the event during a kick-off press meeting on location in Oberhof’s Kanzlersgrund venue.
After the jumping venue in Kanzlersgrund has been modernised in the last few years, the planned Summer Grand Prix marks the first occasion that Nordic Combined makes use of the location on the highest level. Even though the German athletes were driving forces of the discipline in the last seasons, the local heroes from Thuringia have not been part of the team since Tino Edelmann retired in 2016.
“It is important that Oberhof has these modernised training facilities now. Until the young talent being educated here reaches the top, it will take at least two Olympic cycles, though”, local hero and German coach Ronny Ackermann is quoted in the Osttühringer Zeitung.
“We are happy that there were these efforts to revive the sport of Nordic Combined in Thuringia and therefore gladly supported the application”, German Ski Federation Sports Director Karin Orgeldinger said. “We’d like to establish ourselves in the international competition calendar in Nordic Combined with this Grand Prix event”, Frank Eismann, President of the Thuringian Ski Association concluded.
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