Live Talk with Kristjan Ilves

Kristjan Ilves was our guest in the latest episode of the FIS Nordic Combined Instagram Live Talk series.

The Estonian told us about his successful cooperation with the Norwegian team, which profession he would have chosen outside of Nordic Combined and answered personal questions from his fans.

Through the cooperation with the Norwegian Ski Association, the 27-year-old made it to the top of the World Cup field.
At the base in Trondheim, the Estonian trains regularly with the best Norwegian athletes and is an integral part of their team.

"When you’re from such a small country it is not easy to find training partners and also to get enough funding," explained Ilves.
But money can always be found somehow, he emphasizes, while the individual training was the biggest disadvantage for him due to the lack of young talents in Estonia.
"That is why my training partners in Norway are the most valuable thing for me in this cooperation."

Therefore, it was very special for the Estonian to reach the podium together with two of his Norwegian training partners at the season finale in Lahti (FIN), although the venue always pushes him to his limits.

"I have really mixed feeling about Lahti," admits the Overall World Cup fifth. “The hill is very special. I am jumping either 100 meters or 130 meters – there is no in between”, he explained with a laugh.

In the fight for victory, Ilves lost by just 1.7 seconds to training partner and friend Jarl Magnus Riiber on the penultimate day of the season.
"Jarl has always been extremely good in Lahti, managing the hill very well. Therefore, fighting with him for the win on that day was special to me.”

Besides Nordic Combined, Ilves has another passion.
"If I wasn't into snow sports, I would probably be doing track and field because I did a lot of that training when I was younger," he said.
“But one of my biggest dreams outside of sport is to become a pilot. Let's see what the future brings, but I would like to become an airplane pilot."

Find out how Ilves became a Red Bull athlete and which personal song he chose for the exclusive Nordic Combined Athletes playlist on Spotify in the complete Live Talk on the official FIS Nordic Combined Instagram account.