Following the Nordic Combined Committee meeting in Varna, Chairman Horst Hüttel reports about the success story of the TRIPLE, the novelties concerning equipment and metre value that will be applied in the Summer Grand Prix and the current situation of Ladies Nordic Combined in this new edition of TUESDAY TALK.

Looking back on the past two years of being the Nordic Combined Committee Chairman, how has the experience been so far?

Horst Hüttel: I can say that it is a lot of fun to work in and chair this committee. It has been a great atmosphere from day one and I am sure my predecessor Roman Kumpost has taken great care to ensure that this committee works in a very friendly and constructive way. Everybody, the members, the FIS staff and also the Sub-Committee members work together in a very constructive way which makes many things easier. With regards to contents, there are definitely tasks that we will have to tackle in the future but my first interim conclusion is very positive.

With a season without title events ahead of us, the NC TRIPLE will have to show what it’s worth in the next winter. How do you see the development of this Nordic Combined product in the past and what do you expect from the next edition?

Hüttel: I think 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 the product „Nordic Combined“. I don’t mean to say that the TRIPLE is perfect as it is and there are no points where we can continue to develop it but we managed to create something that has a big consensus. Be it athletes, coaches, media, die-hard fans or people who only watch Nordic Combined occasionally agree that it is suspenseful and easy to understand.

As you mentioned, the Committee works very constructively and in its session in Varna, there have been a number of rule changed that were approved of. What is the most consequential change in your opinion?

Hüttel: We haven’t changed a lot in terms of the formats or basic rules. I think the product in itself is good and now its more about improving the framework, shortening the times between the jumping and the cross-country event for example. We have to develop the Organising Committees worldwide and make them better. We have achieved some things already, like the Audi tunnel as the entrance of the cross-country race for example, and I believe we have to continue on this path.

Another important step is the development of Ladies Nordic Combined and the meetings in Varna have been another step on the way. How important is this in terms of the development of the whole discipline?

Hüttel: What I sensed during the conference in Varna is there is a very wide agreement from all the representatives of the Committee, who are deeply involved in the work with Nordic Combined in their respective nations, that Ladies Nordic Combined is a topic which has to be worked on and developed on all levels. I think what we have achieved in the past year with the two events in Oberstdorf and Trondheim is a big success.

Sure, not everything was solved perfectly and the system has to grow but I would like to say, the starting shot was a loud one. It was way louder than many would have expected, with 40 girls on start and 8 or 9 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 Federation 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 wherever the way may take the girls in the end, if they decide to be special jumpers at age 15, 16, they will still profit from combining 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. FIS alone cannot do it. It’s time to continue developing Ladies Nordic Combined with concrete steps and measures and so it is great that this topic took up a considerable amount of time in the Committee meeting. I think we are on an interesting and good way.

For the summer, there will be two novelties tested/applied, namely the new guidelines for equipment testing and the changed metre value for the large hill. What do you expect from these adaptations?

Hüttel: I think regarding the equipment controls, it is the right way 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 the correct one. We will have to see what the summer brings.

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

But I don’t think the feeling of so many qualified and experienced experts can’t be completely wrong. We need the ski jumping part in Nordic Combined, even though and in the full knowledge of the decision being made in the cross-country part. If spectators decide to not show up for the ski jumping part because it is dull and nothing at all is decided there, it certainly does not help us.

Source: fis-ski.com