The Face-Off: The most experienced athletes

Another Friday, another Face-off! Today, we want to have a look at the true veterans of the sport, who have been around for a long time and really put their stamp on the sport of Nordic Combined.

Looking at the group of active athletes, two really big names surface very quickly. Austrian veteran Bernhard Gruber and the German legend of the sport: Eric Frenzel.

Gruber made his World Cup debut 17 years ago: his first competition took place on the 1st of January 2003 in Oberhof (GER), which he ended on rank 32. Since then, Gruber has taken part in 243 World Cup events, he has seen three different Olympic Games and six different World Championships, all of which he brought a medal back home from.

The highlight of Gruber’s career undoubtedly was his World Championship title in Falun in 2015, where he became the first-ever Austrian World Champion in Nordic Combined. Gruber, known for his emotional outbursts and reactions to his performances is dangerous when he can show one of his “Berni-bomb” high-level ski jumps. In the cross-country track, he is a ferocious fighter, who sometimes overpaces but never, ever gives up. This motto applies to his entire athlete life: currently Gruber is sidelined after having to undergo heart surgery in spring. Still, the 38-year-old doesn’t want to turn his back on Nordic Combined and is working hard on his comeback… it doesn’t get much more legendary than that.

One person, who might challenge that claim is one of the biggest names the sport ever had: German serial winner and record breaker Eric Frenzel. Even at 7 years Gruber’s junior, Frenzel has only contested 26 World Cups less than the Austrian, totalling at and impressive 217 events at age 31. Of these 217, Frenzel has won 48 and stood on the podium 76 times since 2007.

He is also one of the most impressive profiles when it comes to performing at the top of his game when it counts the most: two individual Olympic gold medals (plus one with the team) and three individual World Championship titles in 2011, 2013 and 2019 (plus four with the team) speak a very clear language. Even if Frenzel transformed from a highly-successful allrounder to a slightly less successful fast skier in the last year of two, his World Championship gold from Seefeld proves that he can still beat anyone in the field if it is his day.

Hats off to two athletes, who made Nordic Combined what is it in the last 15 years.