Updated 06.01.2023
3 weeks to go until the event, ladies in Seefeld for the first time
Exactly in three weeks, the Nordic Combined Triple will celebrate its 10th anniversary from 27 to 29 January 2023 in the Seefeld Sports Arena. 10 years in which the three-day event has established itself as a real highlight in the Nordic Combined competition calendar. While the men are in a jubilee mood, the women are looking forward to their premiere in Seefeld. In their third World Cup year, the women's Nordic combined team will for the first time be competing in two World Cup events in Seefeld on Friday, 27 January, and Saturday, 28 January.
The Nordic Combined Triple has a similar significance for the Nordic Combined as the Four Hills Tournament has for the ski jumpers, which was the inspiration for the idea. Its story began in 2013 when a group around Werner Frießer, then OC chief, and Ernst Vettori, then Nordic sporting director of the Austrian Ski Federation (ÖSV), considered how the World Cup in Seefeld could become a real season highlight for the Nordic combined. "Our first thought was to have three competitions at three different venues, similar to the Tournament," Frießer recalls. But various obstacles made this unfeasible. As an alternative, the new triple format at only one location was created, which then celebrated its premiere in 2014. Since then, the unique World Cup event has taken place every year, eight times in Seefeld and once, in the World Cup year 2019, in Chaux-Neuve (France).
Originally, the triple included all Nordic Combined formats - a jump from the HS-109-metre hill followed by a 5-kilometre sprint on day one, the classic 10-kilometre Gundersen race on day two and the traditional 15-kilometre Gundersen variation on day three. "Over the years we have readjusted," Frießer explains. So today the cross-country races comprise 7.5 kilometres on day one, 10 on day two and 12.5 on day three. But the highlight of the triple has remained: The winner is only decided after the third cross-country race on Sunday afternoon.
In order to have a say in the overall victory, for which there are double World Cup points and the highest prize money in the World Cup winter, you first have to get through the elimination on day one. On the second day of competition, only the best 50 of the first day are allowed to start. In addition, the results from the previous day will be included in the current starting order, so that at the end of the third cross-country race the overall winner really will cross the finish line first. "Until 2020, the accumulated time gaps from the previous days were carried over into the third competition and often led to large gaps in the final 15 kilometres," explains competition director Günter Csar. "Since 2021, only the top 15 of each of the first two individual races receive bonus points." This keeps the field closer together on the third day and increases the excitement for athletes and fans.
That is exactly what makes the triple so special for double world champion Johannes Lamparter. "The mode of the triple is very interesting and excitement is definitely guaranteed. It is a really great but also exhausting weekend for us athletes. I watched the first triples in front of the television when I was still too young. To be there now is always a highlight, especially because I often train in Seefeld and friends, family and acquaintances are keeping their fingers crossed along the course
After two years without spectators due to the pandemic, OC director Thomas Unterfrauner also hopes that interest will be high. "We hope for well-filled stands and some early birds, because for the women's competitions and the final competition on Sunday you have to get up early.
Because the women's jumping starts at 8:45 a.m., the Sunday men's jumping even at 8:15. Speaking of the ladies: After their World Cup premiere in Ramsau in December 2020, the world's elite Nordic combined athletes will now also compete in Seefeld for the first time. Jacqueline Stark, chairwoman of the organising Ski Club Seefeld, is particularly pleased about this. "Especially in view of the IOC's decision not to include the women in the Olympic programme in 2026, it is important to send a signal for the future of this sport with the World Cup in Seefeld."
Tickets for the women's premiere and the anniversary of the Nordic Combined Triple are now available at https://www.oesv.at/der-osv/tickets/details/fis-weltcup-nordische-kombination-seefeld/bestellen
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