The season 2015/16 will finish with a program full to the hilt. Before the World Cup finals are on schedule in Schonach on the first weekend of March, a true competition marathon is waiting for the ultimate winter athletes with seven competitions in the upcoming ten days. The almost Tour de Ski-worthy program includes three events in Lahti, Finland, one competition in Kuopio which returns to the Nordic Combined calendar after an absence of 15 years, and three events in Val di Fiemme, Italy.

The Finnish leg of the last World Cup events starts with the pre-World Championships in Lahti. The big dress rehearsal for the title event next February features two Individual Gundersen events on Friday and Sunday (as a replacement for one of the cancelled competitions in Ruka) and a Team Sprint on Saturday. 

To get ready for the big spectacle next year, new venue plans and facilities will be tested, giving spectators, media and the athletes the first impression of how the World Championships will feel like next winter. Will any athlete be able to stop dominator Eric Frenzel from winning and put himself in line as a prime contender for Lahti 2017 hardware?

The following Tuesday, Kuopio is looking forward to the return of a Nordic Combined events after the World Cup last stopped there in 2001. All eyes and hopes will be directed to local hero Ilkka Herola. The 20-year-old had turned heads with his first podium in the World Cup in Lillehammer this winter and also came close to it again last weekend with a fourth position in Trondheim.

Program (local times! CET + 1h)
LAHTI
Thursday 18.02.
12:00 Official training HS 130
14:00 Provisional Competition Round/Qualification HS 130
16:00 Official training cross-country

Friday, 19.02.
13:00 Trial Round HS 130
14:00 INDIVIDUAL GUNDERSEN Competition Round HS 130 
16:15 INDIVIDUAL GUNDERSEN 10 km cross-country race

Saturday, 20.02.
11:30 Trial Round HS 130
12:30 TEAM SPRINT Competition Round HS 130 
13:45 TEAM SPRINT 2x 7.5 km cross-country race

Sunday, 21.02.
09:00 Trial Round HS 130
10:00 INDIVIDUAL GUNDERSEN Competition Round HS 130 
13:45 INDIVIDUAL GUNDERSEN 10 km cross-country race

KUOPIO
Monday 23.02.
13:00 Official training HS 127
20:00 Provisional Competition Round/Qualification HS 127

Tuesday, 23.02.
12:30 Trial Round HS 127
13:30 INDIVIDUAL GUNDERSEN Competition Round HS 127 
16:00 INDIVIDUAL GUNDERSEN 10 km cross-country race
Timetable subject to change!

Quick Facts:
HILL
LAHTI
Salpausselkä
KUOPIO
Puijo Ski Center
HS 127

TRACK
LAHTI
Salpausselkä
2,5 km free-technique loop
Total climb: 92 metres
Maximum climb: 34 metres
Height Difference: 36 metres

1,5 km free-technique loop
Total climb: 36 metres
Maximum climb: 10 metres
Height Difference: 19 metres

KUOPIO
Puijo Ski Center
2,5 km free-technique loop
Total climb: 92 metres
Maximum climb: 36 metres
Height Difference: 36 metres

2014/15 WORLD CUP PODIUM Lahti
Ind. Gundersen: 1. Akito Watabe (JPN), 2. Johannes Rydzek (GER), 3. Fabian Rießle (GER)
Team Sprint: 1. Rießle/Rydzek (GER), 2. Lamy Chappuis/Lacroix (FRA), 3. Krog/Klemetsen (NOR)

2001/02 WORLD CUP PODIUM Kuopio
Ind. Gundersen: 1. Ronny Ackermann (GER), 2. Björn Kircheisen (GER), 3. Kristian Hammer (NOR)
Sprint: 1. Ronny Ackermann (GER), 2. Hannu Manninen (FIN), 3. Kristian Hammer (NOR)