Large Hill dress rehearsal in Klingenthal

With the return to Klingenthal (GER), the Nordic Combined World Cup also returns to large hill competitions after a weekend on the normal hill in Seefeld. The Vogtlandarena ski jump with its Hill Size 140 is one of the bigger large hills and with often windy and tricky conditions, good, confident ski jumping will be necessary for athletes who want to climb the podium.

In the last three event years, consistency seemed to pay off at the Saxon venue as Eric Frenzel (2013), Fabian Rießle (2018) and Jarl Magnus Riiber (2019) each celebrated double victories here. With a demanding course, strong skiers also had their moments in Klingenthal in the past as the podiums in 2019 showed: next to Riiber, Ilkka Herola, Vinzenz Geiger, Fabian Rießle and Johannes Rydzek scored top three positions here.

A shared weekend with the Viessmann FIS Ski Jumping World Cup means very early starting times for the Nordic Combined athletes and it remains to be seen how the winds at the hill behave early in the morning. But strong ski jumpers like Japan’s Ryota Yamamoto or France’s Laurent Mühlethaler might get their chance to shine this weekend, as will do all of the top circle of athletes who manage to make good jumps this weekend.

Yellow bib bearer Jarl Magnus Riiber has elected to remain in Norway and will begin his World Championship preparations in Lillehammer. "Jarl has shown a brilliant effort in the season so far, and is currently the world's best combined athlete. Now it's about doing the right things towards the World Cup, and we support his priorities", says Sports Director Ivar Stuan. Riiber's older brother Harald will therefore get his chance in Klingenthal. Teammate Magnus Krog will not be on the start line in Klingenthal as he had stomach problems during the TRIPLE in Seefeld, and ended up in hospital in Innsbruck this week. He is on the road to recovery now.

As the last weekend before the FIS Nordic Ski World Championships in Oberstdorf, the weekend in Klingenthal will be important for everyone else to identify last details to straighten out, to compare with the competition, conquer a place on the World Championship team or to get a confidence booster result ... like a double victory. The field of possible candidates is bit and so the stage is set for a last dress rehearsal in Germany!

The programme

Friday, 01.02.
09:30 Official cross-country training
11:00 SJ HS 140 Official Training
13:00 Provisional Competition Round/Qualification HS 140

Saturday, 02.02.
07:45 Trial Round HS 140
09:00 INDIVIDUAL GUNDERSEN Competition Round HS 140
10:55 INDIVIDUAL GUNDERSEN 10 km cross-country race

Sunday, 03.02.
08:15 Qualification HS 140
09:30 INDIVIDUAL GUNDERSEN Competition Round HS 140
11:30 INDIVIDUAL GUNDERSEN 10 km cross-country race

Local time = CET. Timetable may be subject to change!