Following the Nordic Combined Committee meeting in Varna, Chairman Horst Hüttel talked to FIS Newsflash about the success story of the TRIPLE, new equipment testing and the future of ladies’ Nordic Combined.

With no World Championship or Olympics next season, the TRIPLE in Seefeld will take centre stage. How do you see its future?

The TRIPLE is a unique success story. Looking back into the history of Nordic Combined, there have been many people thinking about how to develop such a product. I don’t mean to say that the TRIPLE is perfect and there are areas for improvement, but we have created something that has made a big step in the right direction. Be it athletes, coaches, media, die-hard fans or people who only watch Nordic Combined occasionally, they all agree it is full of suspense and easy to understand.

During the summer Grand Prix, there will be two innovations tested, namely the new guidelines for equipment testing and the changed metre value for the large hill. What do you expect from these adaptations?

Regarding equipment controls, it is good to also test before the jumps are made. Of course we will have to see how it works in practice, but I think the approach is correct.

In regard to changing the metre value: there was a clear vote from the Committee in favour of restoring the balance in Nordic Combined to favour the ski jumping part. In the past, many decisions have been made to favour cross-country skiing with the points system, etc. We will have to look at the summer competitions in an impartial way and analyse the results at our next meeting in Zürich to see which proposal to present to the FIS Council.

Another important step is the development of ladies’ Nordic Combined. The meetings in Varna were another step forward.

What I sensed during the conference in Varna is that there is widespread agreement from all Committee members who are deeply involved in the work with Nordic Combined in their respective nations. Ladies’ Nordic Combined is a topic which has to be developed at all levels. What we have achieved in the past year with two events in Oberstdorf (GER) and Trondheim (NOR) is already a big success.

Sure, not everything was solved and the system has to grow, but I would like to say the first shot was a good one. It was way better than many would have expected, with 40 girls on from nine nations in Oberstdorf. We have to keep developing.

I think we have fertile soil for the girls in many nations because the infrastructure is already in place. In my role as Sports Director for Ski Jumping and Nordic Combined in the German Ski Association, I can see that even the boys who chose to compete in ski jumping but were Nordic Combined athletes for some time in their youth profit from it. So whichever choice the girls make in the end, even if they decide to specialise as jumpers at the age of 15 or 16, they will still profit from having combined ski jumping and cross-country skiing before that.

I think everything’s set and now it’s up to all nations, the bigger and the small ones, to support and build this system. It is time to continue developing ladies’ Nordic Combined with concrete steps and measures. Therefore it is great that this topic took up a considerable amount of time during the Committee Meeting in Varna.

Source: fis-ski.com