‘We can both be great’ – Sibling rivalries add spice to Nordic Combined

Nordic Combined is one of the most notoriously difficult disciplines in winter sports, bringing together the technical mastery and bravery of ski jumping with the power and endurance of cross-country skiing.

But what if you are competing at the elite end of the sport with your brother or sister? Does having a sibling as a rival or team-mate provide greater motivation to win? Does victory bring that bit more satisfaction, or is the greater joy when you succeed together?

There are 10 sets of siblings competing on this season’s Viessmann FIS World Cup circuit, many of whom will be on the start line together at the Nordic World Ski Championships in Trondheim, Norway starting this week.

One pair, Haruka Kasai and Yuna Kasai (JPN), are twins. Earlier this month, in the week they celebrated their 21^st birthdays, they finished on a World Cup podium together for the first time. One and two in Otepää (EST), a proud day for the sport in Japan.

The only surprise was which sister topped the podium. Before this season, they had both achieved three podium finishes; Haruka’s were all second places, Yuna’s all thirds.  

Prior to that dramatic Mass Start in Otepää, Haruka had beaten Yuna in eight of the nine previous women’s events this season, adding four more podiums to her tally. Yuna had yet to make the podium, her best finishes three fourth places.  

And yet it was Yuna who became the first sister to win a World Cup competition, a brilliant 93.5-meter jump proving enough for victory after Ida Marie Hagen (NOR) crash-landed on the final jump of the competition.

Both sisters were graciousness personified afterwards. “I am very happy to stand on the podium with my sister Haruka for my first win,” said Yuna. "We are very happy because our goal was to be on the podium together," Haruka added. "I will continue to challenge myself to be as good as my sister Yuna."

It was an interesting comment given Haruka’s greater consistency and superior results, which she underlined with two more podium finishes over the Otepää weekend as Yuna collected two more fourth places.

So how does sibling rivalry – if that is what it is - play out on the hill and in the tracks?  Is it about ‘sisters doing it for themselves’ or more a case of ‘Hey sister, go sister’ when one beats the other? And is it the same on the men’s circuit?

'I've competed with her all my life'

The phenomenal Ida Marie Hagen and her younger sister Mille are both in their fourth season on the World Cup circuit.

While Ida, 24, has racked up 17 individual wins and won the overall Crystal Globe last season, 22-year-old Mille’s best finish so far was 14^th in Schonach (GER) last month.

But the defending champion insists her younger sister “is the only person I am fine with being beaten by” and “it would absolutely not be any fun to do the sport without her”.

“Mille is the reason why I still do Nordic Combined,” Ida said. “I quit the sport when I was 14, but when I started high school, I got a virus. I was going to a cross-country skiing school but couldn’t train because I was sick. I got bored, so I joined Mille and my dad for a training camp.

"Then I jumped again and didn’t understand why I quit. It is the most fun sport, combined with more time with Mille - there is nothing better."

"It is always fun and easy when we are together, even if I am sad or angry," Ida added. "We are a team, ‘Kombinertsøstrene Hagen’ (‘The Combined Sisters’), pushing each other and wishing the best for each other.”

Where Ida went in their teenage years, testing out the bigger hills, Mille followed. She says she would not have stayed in the sport without Ida for company.

“Over the years, Ida has been my biggest inspiration, especially seeing how she came back from her knee injury and how bad-ass she is when we are at training!” Mille says.

“I have been competing with her all my life and she has always been the oldest and stronger. To beat her in Nordic Combined, not only in tennis, is one of my career goals!

“Of course it can be challenging to always compare myself to the best, but I am also really lucky to be training with the best every day, which motivates me a lot.

“There is something special seeing your best friend achieve what she is working for. Yes, I want to beat her and be the best, but if I am not winning, I rather want her to have the gold medal.”

'We communicate even without words'

This mutual support and desire to share in the success of a childhood companion is a common thread.

Marte and Mari Leinan Lund (NOR) were 19 and 21 (left and right, below) when they shared the podium – third and second respectively - at the 2021 World Championships in Oberstdorf (GER).

But four years on, Marte will not have her “partner in crime and faithful room-mate” alongside her on the start line in Trondheim.

Mari, who finished third overall in the World Cup last season, recently returned to jumping after missing the whole winter with a knee injury but a setback in her recovery means she will continue with her rehab and leave the stage to her younger sister.

“I’ve been doing a lot of my training in Oslo and when I’m there, I’ll stay at Marte’s place,” Mari says. “This gives us a lot of quality time together, where we can do everything other than training, such as practising our telepathy skills!

“We know each other well enough to communicate even without words. This makes training and competing together more fun. It’s also a big comfort to have your sister by your side at all times.”

For Marte, now 23, the feeling is mutual. “Nothing makes me happier than to see Mari succeed,” she says. “We know each other so well and match each other’s energy. She is by far the toughest person I know. Honesty and hard work pays off - Mari is a real example of that.”

'I'm very proud of my little brother'

But what happens when your younger sibling starts to achieve greater success at something you have grown up doing together?   

This has been part of the dynamic for both Thomas Rettenegger (AUT), older brother of last year’s overall runner-up Stefan, and Einar Luraas Oftebro (NOR), Jens’ big brother.

The Retteneggers were crowned junior team world champions together in 2020 in Oberwiesenthal (GER) – “an incredible moment”, recalls Stefan, 23 - before the younger brother progressed rapidly over the following years.

One might imagine last season, a stunning campaign for Stefan who earned 11 individual World Cup podiums, could have been difficult for Thomas, 25, whose only World Cup podium came in 2023.

He admits when Stefan first started beating him regularly, it was “a little difficult”. “But I think I grew into it,” he said. “I acknowledge he's just good - it doesn't mean that I am bad or not that good, because he is better. We can both be great and have fun with it.”

After all, Thomas still had 12 top-10 finishes of his own last season and more recently the brothers have been contesting together in the tracks again, with Stefan seventh and Thomas ninth in the overall standings.

“We had so much fun last year because he was achieving one podium after another and I was doing my things that I was happy with,” Thomas said.

“I'm very proud of my little brother. We grew up together and did the same things. It's nice to see him striving to be the best and really show his skills because I know what he can do. It's good to see it when he does well.”

Stefan acknowledges that Thomas has been “a big inspiration for my whole career”.

“He was the one who started with ski jumping and what my brother did, I wanted to do too,” he recalled. “He was always the bigger, better one and I always wanted to jump like him and improve to be as good as him."

This experience chimes with that of Jens Luraas Oftebro, 24, who says Einar, 26, “has always been a role model for me and made it possible for me to follow in his footsteps.”

“We have been skiing for as long as I can remember, but I was really inspired when Einar started jumping,” Jens said. “We - or maybe just Einar! - started to beat our dad on cross-country skis on our homemade ski jump at our cabin. After that our dad told Einar to try out the local ski jumping hill with proper jumping equipment. He enjoyed it so much that I also insisted on starting myself the following year.”

While Jens has racked up 33 podiums including seven wins over the past six seasons and currently wears the red bib as the best cross-country skier, Einar only returned to the World Cup circuit last month after nearly two years out with serious injury – posting a 10^th-place finish in the last event in Otepää, one place behind Jens.

“Jens has done a really good job for many years, but I know we wouldn’t be at this level without each other,” Einar says. “We have done almost everything together for 10 years. The job is definitely easier with good company!”

It is a sentiment the likes of Andreas and Aleksander Skoglund (NOR), and David and Simon Mach (GER), would recognize, plus those brother-and-sister siblings - Niklas and Annika Malacinski (USA), and twins Shogo and Sana Azegami (JPN), also on the circuit.

‘Sorry, I'm not Akito’

All of them have a long way to go though to match the longevity of Japanese brothers Akito and Yoshito Watabe.

Akito, 36, has been competing for 20 years, a multi-Olympic and World Championship medallist with 74 World Cup podiums on his CV including 19 wins.

Yoshito, 33 (above left), joined him in on the circuit in 2007. He only has one World Cup podium to his name but did win team bronze medals alongside his brother in the 2017 World Championships and 2022 Olympics.

He jokes “it is fun to beat Akito in anything, not only in competition!” and reveals one “little problem” he has encountered by having a more successful brother.

“Many people asked me, ‘Are you Akito Watabe? Please take a photo with me!’ and I told them, ‘Sorry, I'm not Akito’. Then they were a little sad, and I'm in trouble. This is probably a problem that only happens to me!”