The first name of the 3-day competition will undoubtedly be Ilkka Herola from Finland, currently the second best in the overall SGP cup standings with 246 points. He only trails 10 points behind Austrian Mario Seidl and has 35 point advantage over German Johannes Rydzek. Both of the latter mentioned athletes are not on the entry lists for this weekend.
In the last four races of the season Herola stood on the podium twice and in Villach he achieved his first victory amongst the Nordic Combined elite. We also must mention some of the other top athletes that will compete in the Valley under the Ponce mountains, as are Austrians Martin Fritz and Thomas Joebstl, Frenchman Maxime Laheurte, Czech Tomaš Portyk, experienced Swiss Tim Hug and American Taylor Fletcher and the Norwegian legend Magnus Moan. The 35-year-old won both of the last years competitions in Planica.
The Slovenian team, under the leadership of the head trainer Mitja Oranič will consist of five or six athletes. The new national champion Rok Jelen will be accompanied by the rest of the top four competitors from the last championships in Kranj and Planica, Gašper Brecl, Matevž Malovrh, Ožbej Jelen and Nik Knaus. Appearance of the junior world champion Vid Vrhovnik, who finished in 17th and 14th place last year, is still not certain due to muscle injury, while the most experienced Slovenian athlete Marjan Jelenko won’t participate because of collarbone injury.
All the fans will have a chance to greet all 14 teams on Saturday night at 18.00 in Kranjska Gora. Square in front of the church will host the team’s presentation.
Competition programme
Friday, 21. 09. 2018
15:00 SJ HS139, official training
17:00 SJ HS139, PCR
18:00 CC, official training
Saturday, 22. 09. 2018
10:00 SJ HS139, trial round
11:00 SJ HS139, competition round
13:00 CC, ind. Gundersen 10 km
Followed by prize giving ceremony
18:00 Welcome to the athletes, Kranjska Gora
Square in front of the church
Sunday, 23. 09. 2018
10:00 SJ HS139, trial round
11:00 SJ HS139, competition round
13:00 CC, ind. Gundersen 10 km
Followed by prize giving ceremony
Nordic Combined SGP finals are near
At the end of this week Planica will for the second time host the FIS Nordic Combined Summer Grand Prix Finals. After the last years premiere we’ve received many compliments for the organization of the event and this year also we are fully prepared for a new Nordic Combined highlight at the end of the summer. We’re expecting 56 competitors from 14 countries.
