Emotions high as Seefeld Triple beckons Hagen and leading men

One of the highlights of the Viessmann FIS Nordic Combined season sees the Austrian resort of Seefeld host another ‘Triple’ this weekend in the final events before the World Cup takes a break for the Winter Olympics in Milano-Cortina next month.

The inaugural women’s ‘Triple’ last year produced a dramatic twist in the destination of the Crystal Globe, with Nathalie Armbruster (GER) claiming her first two World Cup wins on route to the title after a pivotal disqualification for main rival Ida Marie Hagen (NOR).

For the men, it promises to be a final form guide before the big show in Val di Fiemme, Italy, with Norway’s ‘Oftebrothers’ - Jens and Einar Luraas Oftebro – both in top shape after twice finishing on the podium together in Oberhof, Germany recently, with Jens winning both competitions in impressive style.

“Hopefully I can perform well in Seefeld as well and also at the Olympics,” said the younger brother after his victory in the Oberhof Gundersen. “I’m pretty motivated and looking forward to it."

He is not the only one. Yellow Bib holder Johannes Lamparter and the Rettenegger brothers, Thomas (fourth in the standings) and Stefan (eighth), will also be desperate for success on home snow as they ramp up their Olympic preparations.

Defending Olympic champion Vinzenz Geiger (GER), who won Large Hill gold in Beijing four years ago, is also hoping to reassert himself at a venue where he pipped Jarl Magnus Riiber (NOR) to the Triple 12 months ago by winning the longer, 12.5 km final-day Gundersen on route to the Crystal Globe.

“I had two weeks of good training now, and I like it in Seefeld - it's a beautiful place,” said the defending champion, who has managed only two podiums – a win and a third place – in nine starts this season.

“I had a lot of success on the tracks and the hill here and last year I won (below). Of course, I want to repeat it, but it's not easy. It will be a long way until Sunday.”

This will be the 13^th men’s ‘Triple’ since 2014 and in 10 of the previous 12 editions for the men, the winner has gone on to become overall champion that season.

The great Eric Frenzel (GER) won it four times from 2014 to 2017, winning all three Seefeld competitions for the first three of those years, a feat matched by Akito Watabe (JPN) in 2018, the year he also won the Crystal Globe.

The 37-year-old is poised to make his 300^th World Cup start in Seefeld this week, having broken the previous record of 295 by Wilhelm Denifl (AUT) in Otepää earlier this month.

The only year the ‘Triple’ was staged elsewhere, in Chaux-Neuve, France, in 2019, Rehrl appeared set for victory after winning the first two competitions, but could only finish third in the concluding Gundersen, which comes with extra points, as team-mate Mario Seidl (AUT) took victory – and the Triple – despite finishing fifth in the first two events.

That year was the first of Jarl Magnus Riiber’s (NOR) five overall titles, and the Nordic Combined legend won three of the next five Triples from 2020-2024, with compatriot Joergen Graabak also taking the trophy in 2022 despite finishing 11^th in the first event.

The other winner in that period, and the only home winner of the Triple to date, was Lamparter in 2023, the year he went on to win the Crystal Globe.

This season’s current overall leader, who hails from nearby Hall-in-Tyrol, a half-hour drive from Seefeld, finished second in an opening Gundersen in 2023 before winning the next two – the last staged with a longer, 12.5 km cross-country – on a momentous weekend in his career, aged just 21.

“I have to say when I won the Triple, that Sunday was the most emotional win I have had, in front of friends and family and a lot of people who work there, who I have known from the beginning since I started doing Nordic Combined,” Lamparter recalled.

“There was a lot of pressure that Sunday – people saying ‘Johannes will make it!’ - which was not so easy, but to have my first home victory and then the day after, winning the Triple… that was really emotional, a big day.”

Expectations will be similarly high this weekend, with Lamparter leading the overall standings by 184 points in his quest for a second Crystal Globe, having claimed seven podium finishes in 11 events so far this season, including four wins.

He has only finished outside the top four on two occasions – a sixth in Trondheim, and seventh in Otepää – and at 24, will also be one of the favourites for Olympics gold in Val di Fiemme, Italy next month.

“It is not always easy to do; you have a lot of pressure inside you,” Lamparter told a recent FIS Race Talk. “No-one says to you ‘that was a bad day for you’, it is always yourself.

Two others who experienced contrasting emotions on the Tyrolean plateau 12 months ago are Armbruster and Hagen, during a dramatic first women’s ‘Triple’.

Hagen won the opening Mass Start, her seventh successive win from the start of last season, and 11^th in a row in all, but a disqualification for a suit infringement during the Compact jumping round on the second day changed the dynamic of the season. 

That gave Armbruster the opening to take her first World Cup win, and with the Triple rules also preventing Hagen from competing in the Gundersen on the final day, Armbruster collected her second straight win, the Triple trophy and the Yellow Bib as leader in the overall standings, which she retained for the rest of the season.

“It was such an honour,” recalled Armbruster, who had just turned 19 at the time. “That weekend felt like a dream for me. It was so overwhelming to celebrate my first World Cup victory there, and then my second. Winning the Seefeld Triple meant a lot to me.”

While her Seefeld setback appeared to affect Hagen for the rest of the winter – she subsequently finished 15^th after a fall in Otepää and only won one of the remaining five World Cup events - the 25-year-old has rebounded superbly this season to regain her status as the ‘Queen of Nordic Combined’.

Hagen has won eight of this season’s nine competitions, including the last seven, and set a new record for individual World Cup wins in Oberhof, with her 25^th victory coming in the concluding Gundersen.

"It was great and I'm looking forward so much to Seefeld now,” she said. “This victory gives me confidence, but I have to keep on pushing. It's such a good jumping level now, so I really have to do my work good. I hope it will be a nice weekend in Austria as well.”

Hagen, 200 points clear of nearest challenger Alexa Brabec (USA), could even seal her second Crystal Globe this weekend. With only two more individual events left after Seefeld, the Norwegian will win the title if she emerges with a lead of more than 200 points.

FIS NORDIC COMBINED WORLD CUP – SEEFELD SCHEDULE (all times CET)

30.01.26

11:45 – Women’s Mass Start CC

12:30 – Men’s Mass Start CC

14:10 – Women’s Individual NH SJ

15:00 – Men’s Individual NH SJ

31.01.26

10:15 – Women’s Compact NH SJ

12:30 – Men’s Compact NH SJ

14:45 – Women’s Compact CC 5km

15:30 – Men’s Compact CC 7.5km

 01.02.26

10:15 – Women’s Gundersen NH SJ

12:30 – Men’s Gundersen NH SJ

14:45 – Women’s Gundersen CC 7.5km

15:30 – Men’s Gundersen CC 12.5km