Olympic dress rehearsal in Hakuba

With a little less than two weeks to go until the first Nordic Combined gold medal will be handed out in PyeongChang, Korea, the upcoming World Cup weekend in Hakuba marks an important last rehearsal under competition conditions. While not all Olympic athletes elected to travel to Japan and acclimatise to the Far East early, a total of 42 athletes from eleven nations have been entered to fight for victories and World Cup points.

Among those is of course local hero and Japanese superstar Akito Watabe, who comes right off a three-event winning streak at the prestigious Nordic Combined TRIPLE. Watabe is the first athlete to win the event and break the iron hold that the “King of Seefeld”, Eric Frenzel, had on the trophy in all four previous edition. Boosted by his home crowd, Hakuba born and raised Watabe looks to polish and fine-tune his Olympic shape and maybe even his World Cup victory count, which currently is at 13.

Watabe is headlining a Japanese team of 10 that also features his brother Yoshito, talented jumpers Takehiro Watanabe and Go Yamamoto as well as Hisaki Namamine, who made a name for himself by winning the jumping parts of the events at Nordic Combined’s last visit to Japan in Sapporo in the past season.

The Japanese home team will face stiff competition from the dominating nation of the current winter: Team Norway has entered some of its top athletes like Watabe’s closest pursuer in the World Cup rankings, Jan Schmid, who will be out to recapture the yellow bib. Schmid is joined by veterans Magnus Moan and Mikko Kokslien, while the strong Continental Cup athletes Sindre Ure Søetvik, Harald Riiber and Espen Bjørnstad also get their chance.

Other athletes looking to the podium are Switzerland’s Tim Hug, who has some experience with podium results and victories in the more exotic venues, as well as Estonia’s Kristjan Ilves or Czech Republic’s Tomas Portyk and Miroslav Dvorak. But also the young and lightning fast Austrian skiers Bernhard Flaschberger, Paul Gerstgraser and Thomas Jöbstl should not be overlooked.

With an invigorating mix of World Cup veterans and young Continental Cup challengers, the podium pictures promise to be colourful, different and exciting just as Nordic Combined’s return to the venue of Hakuba after an absence of 15 years deserves.

The program (LOC = CET + 8 h)

Subject to change. Please check this article on the website for the latest updates!

Friday, 02.02.2018

10.00: Official Training HS 134

12.00: Provisional Competition Round

14.00: Official Training cross-country

Saturday, 03.02.2018

11.00: Trial Round HS 134

12.00: INDIVIDUAL GUNDERSEN Competition Round HS 134

15.00: INDIVIDUAL GUNDERSEN 10 km cross-country race

Sunday, 04.02.2018

11.00: Trial Round HS 134

12.00: INDIVIDUAL GUNDERSEN Competition Round HS 134

15.00: INDIVIDUAL GUNDERSEN 10 km cross-country race

Quick Facts:

HILL

Hakuba Olympic Ski Jump

HS 134

TRACK

2 km free-technique loop

Total climb: 72 m

Maximum climb: 38 m

Height Difference: 38 m

2002/03 PODIUM

Sprint: 1. Ronny Ackermann (GER), 2. Hannu Manninen (FIN), 3. Gerog Hettich (GER)