The ATOMIC Stars at the “Nordic Triple” in Kuusamo
Cross-Country Skiing, Ski Jumping, Nordic Combined – a “Nordic Triple“ at the official World Cup opening in the Finnish Kuusamo. How do Loitzl, Ahonen, Bieler & Co. start into the World Cup?
“We are perfectly prepared for the opening – whether it’s the ski jumpers, where Loitzl and Ahonen belong to the top favorites, or whether it’s the Cross-Country ski run, where the Scandinavians are in on it,” states ATOMIC Nordic Director Roman Toferer. In Nordic Combined it won’t be before Christmas that the US-Dreamteam Demong/Lodwick starts into the World Cup (intensive preparations for the Olympics); Christoph Bieler does not see any curtailments due to his last week’s head-operation under general anaesthetics.
200 days of snow during the year, average yearly temperatures of -0,3 degrees Celsius. The cold North becomes a hotspot on the weekend. “At this time of the year the temperatures in Kuusamo are around the freezing point. Consequently, the Cross-Country skiing run is icy and rather arduous,” knows ATOMIC Nordic Director Roman Toferer about the conditions of the World Cup opening. 100 per cent grip are a ‘must’, the material for sure the key to success. “We have travelled to Kuusamo with a five-member service crew – among them ski jump-expert and person in charge of Ahonen: Markus Kahr – and thus we can test and decide on site directly which surface-mixture is required for the optimal grip and seam slippage of the ATOMIC-Featherlight.
ATOMIC Stars fly farthest – despite reorganization
The one contests his first World Cup as „Austria’s Sportsman of the Year”, the other one the first after a one year career-leave: Wolfgang Loitzl and Janne Ahonen – the ATOMIC stars are among the top favorites in the ski-jump World Cup. “Janne has demonstrated with his sovereign victory at the Finnish championships in September that he is again a 100 per cent in form – the material tuning fits. And he has a big goal: to take his first single-Olympics-gold in Vancouver.” To defend his second place of last year in tomorrow’s team-contest as well as in the single-jump on Saturday is the mission of Austrian Ski Federation routinier Wolfgang Loitzl: “The best season of my career has splendidly begun here last year – consequently my sentiment after good preparations is fine also this year”, he says. The Norwegians Tom Hilde, Anders Bardal and Bjoern Einar Romoeren complete the strong ATOMIC squad. The new “wind-factor-jump-regulation” which is going to be applied after a testing phase in the summer Grand Prix for several World Cup events, too, regards the ATOMIC Nordic Director, by the way, as worthy of discussion but not necessarily unfavorable for his stars. Because, according to Roman Toferer: ”Top-jumpers such as Ahonen and Loitzl can also jump well under bad wind.”
Scandinavian Girlpower among the Cross-Country Skiers, Nordic Combined without US-Boys
The ATOMIC Nordic Team sets no American Nordic combined-duo, but a Scandinavian cross-country skiing-duet in the track of Kuusamo. Todd Lodwick, who celebrated his 20th American championship-title in Nordic Combination at the beginning of October this year, and Bill Demong, winner of the World Cup finals 2008/09 won’t interfere in the World Cup until after Kuusamo. (Lodwick may not even before the contests in Ramsau: “The World Cup is important, but the Olympics are more impor-tant – the season is long”) In the meantime, the US-dreamteam trains (together with the third ATOMIC-combiner Johnny Spillane) in Lillehammer. Already contest Nr. 2 is the “Nordic Triple” for the Cross-Country skiers.
“In Kuusamo I count particularly on the Scandinavians, with the third of Beitostoelen, Anna Haag, and shooting-star Marthe Kristoffersen leading the way”, provides Toferer a first form-outlook on his stars. At the start, too, the German Claudia Nystad, German Ski Federation & ATOMIC team colleague Franz Göring is sidelined, probably until the turn of the year, after a training accident at the beginning of November and an operation. No interference due to his injury expects Austrian Ski Federation combiner Christoph Bieler: “It was a sore sebaceous gland, I couldn’t help but to operate – it should be back to normal on Saturday.”