After three years Liberec welcomes the Nordic Combined elite

After three years, the world’s Nordic Combined elite returns to Liberec. From 24th to 26th February 2012, the city will host two races of the FIS World Cup Nordic Combined. These feature an individual race (HS 134/10 km) and this season’s hot news – the Penalty Race. The Nordic Combined elite will be coming to Liberec for the tenth time in history.

There are no other major events such as the World Championships or the Olympic Games waiting for the athletes this season. For this reason, the attention of all the athletes is on the races of the FIS World Cup. The start list features the complete world elite including Jason Lamy Chappuis, the 2010 Olympic winner from Vancouver and the 2011 World Champion, or the American Bill Demong, the 2010 Olympic gold medallist.

There will also be Tino Edelmann and Eric Frenzel from Germany, Alessandro Pittin from Italy, Haavard Klementsen, Jan Schid and Mikko Kokslien from Norway or the new wave that has managed to excel this season and obtain medals: the Norwegian duo Magnus Krog and Jörgen Grabaak or Akito Watabe from Japan.

Roman Kumpošt, President of the Organising Committee and at the same time Chairman of the FIS Nordic Combined Executive Board, explains the new discipline: "Apart from the traditional individual race, we offer the spectators in Liberec an interesting novelty: the Penalty Race. This season the Penalty Race was only held once – last December in Lillehammer. In the ski jumping part, the athletes land in four zones marked on the hill and, based on the zone reached, are given the number of extra 150-metre penalty loops which they have to run up to four times in the cross-country portion."

The finest athletes in the Nordic Combined first came to Liberec in 1995. The ski jumping was held at Ještěd and the cross-country race in Bedřichov. The first winner was the Japanese athlete Kenji Ogiwara.

The following nine races of the World Cup revealed that the local climate suits the German athlete Ronny Ackermann who won three times, in 2001, 2002 and 2004. The last man to win in Liberec was the American Bill Demong at the 2009 World Championships.

FIS World Cup Nordic Combined in Liberec – programme: Friday 24th Feb: 11 a.m. - Ještěd, provisional comp. round (in case of cancellation of the ski jumping part due to adverse weather conditions over the following days, it will become official), Saturday 25th Feb. - "Penalty Race", HS 134/10 km: 10 a.m. - Ještěd, ski jumping at HS 134, 13:30 h - Vesec, cross-country (5 x 2 km), Sunday 26th Feb. - Gundersen, HS 134/10 km: 9 a.m. - Ještěd, ski jumping at HS 134, 12:15 p.m. - Vesec, cross-country (4 x 2.5 km).
For updated information and news visit http://www.skiliberec.cz.

Media accreditation open
Accreditation for the FIS World Cup Nordic Combined in Liberec 2012 has been launched. Media representatives can sign up via a simple on-line form available at http://www.skiliberec.cz website in Media – Accreditation section by 20th February 2012 at the latest.

Accreditation cards will be ready to be collected in the Accreditation Centre at the reception of the Babylon Hotel in Liberec on Thursday 24th February and Friday 25th February 2012. The form also includes accommodation offers at discount prices.

Eva Hromadkova
Communication Manager

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