The Nordic Combined Summer Grand Prix 2013 is history and now it's time to look ahead and prepare for a new winter season. For Nordic Combined, one of the biggest highlights this season is the new Weekend Challenge. Race Director Lasse Ottesen answered questions about the newest addition to the FIS calendar and how it was created.
What was the inspiration for creating the Weekend Challenge?
The idea behind the Weekend Challenge is actually old. It came from the Warsteiner Grand Prix that took place shortly after the New Year at three venues in Germany which we had in Nordic Combined some years ago. It was the "Tour" of Nordic Combined and one of the highlights of the season.
It's been many years since the Grand Prix ended and we thought it's definitely about time to start with a new World Cup highlight. We have World Championships and Olympics but in our World Cup calendar, we don't have such an identifiable highlight. Like the other disciplines, especially our Nordic colleagues in Cross-Country Skiing with the Tour de Ski and Ski Jumping with the 4 Hills Tournament, we now also have a World Cup season highlight.
With events like the Four Hills Tournament or the Tour de Ski already in place, isn't this only copying the multiple-day-event from them?
We definitely looked at what our colleagues in the other Nordic Disciplines are doing, and their experiences. But it’s not a copy. This is the Nordic Combined Weekend Challenge, a three-day event, a long weekend if you want to call it. Naturally we used the best ideas from those two big events and discussed ‘What can we do in Nordic Combined?’ That's the way we started working on the Weekend Challenge one and a half years ago.
What was the biggest challenge in coming up with the event? Finding the best location, creating the rules, the general concept?
It was a mix of all of these areas. The first idea we had was to bring in more of our venues to have a longer Challenge. But key issue was the TV times and dates and how to put a big event like that into an already very full TV calendar.
The fundamental aspect was to come up with a good idea from a sports perspective. With that in hand, we had to establish the rules and once we had those in place the next step was to find an Organiser. We knew we needed an experienced and established Organising Committee that was well acquainted with Nordic Combined and with Seefeld and the Austrian Ski Association we are in very good hands.
The Weekend Challenge will take part for the first time in this upcoming winter on the weekend from the 17th -19th January. Why was this date chosen?
In cooperation with the Organisers and TV, it was important to find the best slot for the Nordic Combined event. We wanted to wait until the Four Hills Tournament and the Tour de Ski were over to give everybody the opportunity to follow Nordic Combined's main event.
We have seen the TV ratings increase over the past few years and hopefully the Weekend Challenge will be another step to help the sport grow even more.
What has been the reaction to the Weekend Challenge in the Nordic Combined community?
We have had really positive feedback from the athletes and coaches As it is the first year, we might encounter small issues here and there that will need to be improved, but I am also sure it will be successful. I hope that the team and the spectators will find the Challenge interesting and exciting.
What will be the toughest aspect of the Weekend Challenge for the athletes?
The hardest thing will be for the athletes to compete in three tough races on consecutive days. But these are elite athletes at the highest level of the Nordic disciplines. The Nordic Combined competitors are not called the ultimate winter athletes for nothing and I am confident they will be able to handle three days of competition. The recovery will be an issue for sure, but the other aspect to consider will be tactics. It's going to be really interesting to see how the different nations and athletes will attack this event and what kind of tactics they will use. Of course, the best one is to win all three races (laughs).
What makes the winner of the Weekend Challenge a true champion?
The system carries the result from each competition to the next day through the weekend. The winner needs to be the best athlete over the whole weekend. It's not only winning one day and hanging back the next day, that's not going to take them to the top.
At the same time, we have three very different races. We start with a Prologue of one jump and 5 km skiing, then we have our regular Individual Gundersen (1 jump and 10 km) and final is our classic Nordic Combined format with two jumps and 15 km. The Weekend Challenge winner will be a true Nordic Combined champion being the best athlete in the complete variety of races.
Source: the official FIS-site
