After a long summer break it was finally Nordic Combined time again! This years Summer Grand Prix started as usual in Oberwiesenthal – this time with the training and PCR on Friday (not also on Saturday like the years before). Training started at 6 p.m. so it was already dark when the PCR ended. I usually like the floodlight atmosphere, but it was not so nice for taking photos. That’s why the quality of the last athletes is really poor or they’re too dark too recognize anyone! But all in all it was a great start for this NC weekend. The PCR was won by Marjan Jelenko (SLO) who jumped 100,5m (129.7 points), only 0.1 points ahead of Evgeniy Klimov who jumped the same distance. Christoph Bieler became third with 100,00m (127.1 points).
On Saturday we had a Teamsprint. It was really cold already on Friday and on Saturday it didn’t get better. It also started to rain, but luckily the rain got better before the competition started. The jumping round was won by Team Germany II (Kircheisen/Edelmann) with 253.9 points ahead of Team Germany I (Frenzel/Rydzek) who were only +0:01 behind. Team Austria I (Bieler/Gruber) became third +0:05. These three teams were fighting for the victory from the beginning on and it was a really exciting race. The victory went to Germany I ahead of Austria I and Germany II!
Top 3 Teamsprint 23.08.2014:
1. Germany I (Frenzel/Rydzek)
2. Austria I (Bieler/Gruber) +7.5
3. Germany II (Kircheisen/Edelmann) +12.4
On Sunday it was time for the first individual competition. We saw some really good jumps. Evgeniy Klimov showed the longest jump on 106,0m but unfortunately he fell, so the jumping part went to Eric Frenzel with 103,0m followed by Christoph Bieler (104,5m , +0:02). Haavard Klemetsen became third (104,0m , 0:08). The race followed and before the start it started to rain and also to hail. The hail stopped after a few minutes and after a few rounds the rain stopped also. The sun came out and suddenly it was very warm. Crazy weather – I thought this was supposed to be a SUMMER Grand Prix. ;) But the changing weather conditions weren’t a real problem for the athletes. We saw another exciting race which was dominated by the Germans who showed a real strong performance. In the end they could celebrate a triple victory.
Top 3 Individual Gundersen 24.08.2014:
1. Johannes Rydzek
2. Eric Frenzel +3.7
3. Björn Kircheisen +6.8
On Saturday we had a Teamsprint. It was really cold already on Friday and on Saturday it didn’t get better. It also started to rain, but luckily the rain got better before the competition started. The jumping round was won by Team Germany II (Kircheisen/Edelmann) with 253.9 points ahead of Team Germany I (Frenzel/Rydzek) who were only +0:01 behind. Team Austria I (Bieler/Gruber) became third +0:05. These three teams were fighting for the victory from the beginning on and it was a really exciting race. The victory went to Germany I ahead of Austria I and Germany II!
Top 3 Teamsprint 23.08.2014:
1. Germany I (Frenzel/Rydzek)
2. Austria I (Bieler/Gruber) +7.5
3. Germany II (Kircheisen/Edelmann) +12.4
On Sunday it was time for the first individual competition. We saw some really good jumps. Evgeniy Klimov showed the longest jump on 106,0m but unfortunately he fell, so the jumping part went to Eric Frenzel with 103,0m followed by Christoph Bieler (104,5m , +0:02). Haavard Klemetsen became third (104,0m , 0:08). The race followed and before the start it started to rain and also to hail. The hail stopped after a few minutes and after a few rounds the rain stopped also. The sun came out and suddenly it was very warm. Crazy weather – I thought this was supposed to be a SUMMER Grand Prix. ;) But the changing weather conditions weren’t a real problem for the athletes. We saw another exciting race which was dominated by the Germans who showed a real strong performance. In the end they could celebrate a triple victory.
Top 3 Individual Gundersen 24.08.2014:
1. Johannes Rydzek
2. Eric Frenzel +3.7
3. Björn Kircheisen +6.8