With two training camps behind them, the Austrian Nordic Combined team is nothing but ready for their national championships on the large hill in Bischofshofen and the normal hill in Villach on this upcoming weekend. After that, the team will go and hunt the first snow of the winter 2015/16.

Traditional training camp in Val di Fiemme

The athletes of the first and second training group had a first chance to gauge the level of performance of their fellow teammates in a joint training camp in Val di Fiemme. Almost a traditional affair for the team at this time of the year is to come to Val di fiemme to use the World Championship-facilities for jumping training in the mornings and roller-ski on the numerous mountain passes surrounding the valley.

More preparations in Seefeld

Returning home to Austria, the team came together for another training camp at the TRIPLE venue of Seefeld, taking advantage of the jumping hill and the roller-ski track right in the Casino Arena.

„Everything went very well until now“, said Willi Denifl on SeefeldTV. „The work with our two new coaches Christoph and Jochen is going really well. The team spirit is there, everything is fun. It’s great. There is a lot to do in October but now you can see the snow on the mountains already, so yes, the excitement is definitely there.“

Denifl, who is among the oldest athletes of the team, had skipped the Summer Grand Prix while his teammates showed a new kind of Austrian strength with a double victory in the initial Team Sprint and Mario Seidl’s first individual win in Tschagguns. Head coach Christoph Eugen hopes that these are the first indicators for the young athletes closing the gap to their successful predecessors like Bieler, Stecher and Gruber.

Another thing Denifl likes is the mix of young and older athletes on the team: „The young guys do look to see ‚what is the old guy doing?‘ but I am also looking at them. It is a win - win situation. I don’t feel as old as I obviously am (laughs) but when I look at their year’s of birth, 93, 94 I thought ‚Oh wow, I have been in the federation since then‘. So yes, in these moments you notice that you’re a little older.“

Source: fis-ski.com