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Women in Nordic Combined: Combine on an equal footing (nd current)

Jenny Nowak secured the German championship title in the autumn. It remains the DSV’s greatest hope.

Photo: imago images / Gerhard König

The ski technicians of the German combined athletes measured minus 22 degrees on their way to the World Cup opener in Ruka. It actually still exists, the real winter. At least in Finland on the Arctic Circle, near the Russian border. This is also where Santa Claus is supposed to have his home, who every year is a popular photo motif among the regulars at the first competition of the best Nordic skiers on the ski jumps and in the cross-country ski runs of Ruka.

The women have not yet had the pleasure of seeing the famous man with the white beard live this weekend. Your start in the World Cup will not take place until the first weekend in December in Lillehammer, which is why the German team around model athlete Jenny Nowak is already training in Norway. However, Santa Claus did not forget the combiners: this winter the longest World Cup season in the history of the sport, which is still very young for women, awaits. This is not a feat, because last winter there was only one World Cup in Ramsau. Nevertheless, the number of ten World Cups at six different locations, including the first mixed team competition with men, is quite impressive. “It is a delicate plant that has to grow carefully,” says Horst Hüttel. As the sporting director of the German Ski Association, he is responsible for Nordic combined and ski jumping. The topic of equality is particularly close to his heart.

The development of female ski jumpers is already relatively far advanced. In 2014 there was the Olympic premiere of the flying women with the triumph of Carina Vogt. At the Winter Games in Beijing, which will start in just over two months, gold will be jumped for the first time in a mixed competition and the World Cup program is almost as close as for the men. This success story now serves as a blueprint for the women who have only conquered the combination of ski jumping and cross-country skiing in recent years.

It was not until last winter that the last male bastion in skiing fell with the first World Cup and the World Cup premiere of an individual competition in Oberstdorf. The results were unsatisfactory from a German point of view – after all, the bar is set high by the male gold guarantors such as the multiple world and Olympic champions Eric Frenzel and Johannes Rydzek. At the first World Cup, the then 16-year-old Cindy Haasch ended up as the best German in eleventh place. The secret medal candidate Jenny Nowak was only 17th – out of a total of 32 athletes from nine nations. “Of course we weren’t entirely satisfied. In Norway, Japan and Austria, the girls worked more purposefully with the young generation, “admits Hüttel.

It is true that in terms of breadth of the combined athletes in the younger age groups, 30 of 45 starters in ski jumping recently competed in Nordic Combined in the pupil’s cup in the 12/13 age group. But there is often still a lack of focused training in both sub-disciplines. Cross-country skiing has often only been done “on the side” so far.

Therefore, only about 12 to 15 women are really suitable for the six German starting places in the World Cup. Horst Hüttel hopes, however, that interest in the still young sport will continue to grow through television broadcasts of the World Cups and hopefully also German success stories. The only candidate for this is currently 19-year-old Jenny Nowak. The junior world champion of 2020 won the German championship title a few weeks ago by a huge margin. “It must be our aim to fight for the podium internationally also in the combined women,” demands Hüttel.

After all, it should only be a matter of time before equality between the sexes in terms of medals is established in the Nordic combined as well. At the next Nordic World Ski Championships in Planica in 2023, there could be the premiere of the mixed competition in addition to the individual race for women. And for the Olympic Games in Milan and Cortina in 2026, the World Ski Federation FIS has now submitted an application to the International Olympic Committee for the first for the combined athletes. The large hill competition for female ski jumpers will also be new there.

The male combiners are consistently enthusiastic that equality is now about to make a breakthrough in their sport as well. “I think it’s a cool thing that women are finally part of our team. The mixed competition will definitely be exciting, ”says team Olympic champion Fabian Rießle. The first mixed competition is to take place on January 7th in Val die Fiemme. But also in Lillehammer, Otepää, Ramsau, Planica and Schonach, men and women can be seen live at least in one place.

The German combiners, who are still spectators at the Olympics this time, will certainly be able to learn something from their male colleagues. Because “King” Eric Frenzel, Johannes Rydzek, Rießle and Co have won many titles in the past few years. At the home world championships last winter in Oberstdorf of all places, however, the Norwegians around superstar Jarl Magnus Riiber – who also won the first World Cup of the season in Ruka on Friday – and the Austrians with Johannes Lamparter took the gold medals away from the successful Germans.

»At the last World Cup there was no salt in the soup. We want to change that in the Olympic season, ”announces national coach Hermann Weinbuch. “The boys are hot.” Actually the best setting for the start in Santa’s home country. On Friday, however, no German could present himself with a podium place. As the best, Manuel Faißt came in fifth.

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