Nordic Ski World Championships start in Oberstdorf

The 53rd FIS Nordic Ski World Championships start in Oberstdorf for ski jumpers, nordic combined athletes, and cross country skiers. Oberstdorf already hosted the World Championships in 1987 and 2005.

Due to Covid-19, the 2021 World Championships will be held without spectators and with huge restrictions, but everyone there can expect lots of sunshine in the upcoming days. Up to 17°C and sunshine are forecasted for the region in southern Germany and we can all look forward to beautiful pictures of the competitions.

The venues are, as always in Oberstdorf, in great condition. The Ski Jumping program starts already today at 3:30 pm CET with the women's first training on the normal hill. 
The official opening ceremony follows on Wednesday at 8 pm CET.

A total of seven medal events will be held in Ski Jumping, 3 for the women (normal hill individual, normal hill team, large hill individual), 3 for the men (normal hill individual, large hill team, large hill individual), and a mixed team event. It will be the first time that a women's World Champion will be crowned on the large hill.

Germany wants to defend 4 titles
Two years ago in Seefeld, Germany was the outstanding team. Out of the six medal events in Seefeld, Germany won four: all team competitions and Markus Eisenbichler took gold on the large hill.
Maren Lundby (NOR) claimed the women's individual title and Dawid Kubacki (POL) claimed normal hill gold.

Granerud is the top favorite
This year, Norway's Halvor Egner Granerud is the top favorite. Granerud is the clear World Cup leader and he has already won 11 World Cups this winter. Japan's Ryoyu Kobayashi, who dominated the 2019 season but couldn't win an individual medal at the World Championships, is also one of the top contenders for the medals. He got in very good shape in time for the WSC in Oberstdorf with two wins recently in Zakopane and Rasnov.

With Kamil Stoch, Dawid Kubacki, Piotr Zyla (all POL), Anze Lanisek and Bor Pavlovcic (SLO) and Robert Johansson and Marius Lindvik (NOR) there are almost 10 other potential winners who have to be reckoned with.

The German hopes are on Karl Geiger and Markus Eisenbichler. Both had ups and downs this winter, after great success at the beginning of the season (Eisenbichler won two World Cups, Geiger won the Ski Flying World Championships) it didn't go that well for them. But if everything goes well for them, they can win.

Sara Kramer (AUT), Sara Takanashi (JPN), Nika Kriznar (SLO), Maren Lundby and Silje Opseth (NOR) are the top favorites in the women's competition.

Official website of Oberstdorf 2021 >>

These are the defending champions:

Large hill individual Seefeld 2019
1. Markus Eisenbichler (GER)
2. Karl Geiger (GER)
3. Killian Peier (SUI)

Large hill Team Seefeld 2019
1. Germany
2. Austria
3. Japan

Normal hill individual Seefeld 2019
1. Dawid Kubacki (POL)
2. Kamil Stoch (POL)
3. Stefan Kraft (AUT)

Normal hill individual women Seefeld 2019
1. Maren Lundby (NOR)
2. Katharina Althaus (GER)
3. Daniela Iraschko-Stolz (AUT)

Normal hill women's team Seefeld 2019
1. Germany 
2. Austria
3. Norway

Normal hill Mixed-Team Seefeld 2019
1. Germany
2. Austria
3. Norway