FIS Telemark World Cup Opening 2020/2021
Feb 03, 2021·Telemark
The first FIS Telemark Word Cup stage of the year was held in Oberjoch, Germany and gathered 47 athletes (19 women and 28 men) from France, Germany, Great Britain, Ireland, Italy, Norway, Slovenia, Switzerland and Russia. Oberjoch didn’t disappoint even if some national teams could not reach the opening World Cup due to the pandemic and local restrictions.
For the first World Cup, athletes competed over five days of racing (two Sprints and two Parallel Sprints) in addition to two classics, held in the same day, to replace the cancelled Kravec (SLO) World Cup which was due to take place the following week. Everybody was looking in good shape and ready to race despite only one training race before in Thyon (SUI) a few weeks before. Smiles for miles beyond the masks and friendship was the standard for the daily mood during the races.
The Swiss team dominated most of the races with a winning trio for women (Amélie Wenger-Reymond, Martina Wyss and Beatrice Zimmermann) and with Bastien Dayer and Nicolas Michel for the men. Even with the Swiss regularly making the the podiums, challengers had the opportunity to show that the games are not totally done untill the end of the season. Argeline Tarn Bouquet (FRA), Jasmine Taylor (GBR), Johanna Holzmann (GER) and Kathrin Reischmann (GER) finished in the top six in most of the races. Jure Ales from Slovenia took his second ever victory in a World Cup Sprint and Noe Claye (FRA) won his first World Cup Classic. Trym Nygaard Loeken (NOR) won the Parallel Sprint and Matti Lopez (FRA) skied consistently to finish in the top six men.
The Classic races showed that nothing is already written for the World Cup crystal globe especially for the men. The ranking is tight between Switzerland, Slovenia, France and Norway and the next Classic races could break the Swiss dominance. In the women’s race, Switzerland’s Wenger-Reymond, with 152 World Cup victories, continues to dominate in the Classic but with Taylor and Holzmann not far behind.
The Classic remains the Queen of the telemark races to determinate who will win the globe and anything can happen. Winters are never the same and this particular one can give us surprises. Indeed, the place for the next World Cup stage can change and we are aiming to explore new venues and locations for the Classic races.
The Parallel Sprint never disappoints and is still spectacular even during the Covid era. In Oberjoch we witnessed an epic showdown for the men with the final between to good friends Lopez of France and Nygaard Loeken or Norway. Before the start of the final they were clearly on the same channel with an agreement of fair play untill the finish line. The final was underway but unfortunately Lopez crashed into the loom and broke his ACL. Lopez didn't reach the final line but Nygaard Loeken waited for him when he was evacuated on the snowmobile. So a great moment of emotion between the two racers and a race in spirit with the roots of telemark: Epic from the beginning untill the end of the day.
We asked to Lopez and Nygaard Loeken how they lived the day as two good gentlemen when it’s about racing against each others:
I had to ski against Trym from Norway. As we are good friends we gave eachother a fistbump and wished a fair fight a couple of minutes before the start.
We wish a strong recovery to Matti with this challenge. After this first round the telemark spirit is safe. The magic of the freeheel in between and outside the gates remain.
We also thanks all the people involved in the organization of this World Cup stage.
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