Finnish and Estonian FIS Schu"ler
Grand Prix victories in Oberstdorf
Traditionally on the same weekend as the Summer
Grand Prix finals, the 13 and 14-year-old future
stars of Nordic Combined come together in Oberstdorf
for the biggest event of their year: the international
FIS Schu"ler Grand Prix.
65 starters from the seven nations of Finland, Norway,
Germany, Austria, Estonia, Slovenia and Czech Republic
battled for the coveted title which also entails
a prize giving ceremony together with the Summer
Grand Prix athletes and getting the trophies handed
over by Nordic Combined's top stars.
After the ski jumping part, Otto Nittykoski from
Finland was in the lead in the category age 13.
He jumped 60 metres on the HS 60 hill in the Erdinger
Arena. With 125,7 points, this meant a 1-second
lead on Germany's Jakob Fischer who almost set a
new hill record with 61,5 metres (125,4 p.) Norwegian
Benjamin Ostvold came in third (59,5 m; 122,8 p.)
and started with a time disadvantage of 8 seconds
on the 4-kilometre roller skiing track.
In the age category 14, Adam Helminger from Germany
headed the result list after the ski jumping part.
He jumped 59,5 metres and received 122,3 points
which gave him a 2-second lead on Slovenia's Timi
Zajc for the 6-kilometre race. Helmingers teammate
Benedikt Hahne ranked third at the intermediate
point, going out on the roller ski track 9 seconds
behind the leader.
After the roller ski race, a Finnish sensation became
reality: the first four places went to the young
athletes from the Northern country, promising a
bright future. Perttu Reponen won the S 13 category
with a cross-country time of 11:52.8 for the 4 kilometres,
enough to make him cross the finish line 25,6 seconds
earlier than teammate Waltteri Karhumaa. Rasmus
A"hta"va" and Otto Nittykoski finished
29,8 and 37,7 seconds after Reponen. The first non-Finnish
athlete to cross the finish line was Germany's Jakob
Fischer on rank 5. As the competition was also open
to girls for the first time, Slovenia's Maja Drinovec
scored a 23rd rankd out of 29 starters in an otherwise
completely male starting field.
In the S 14 category, Estonian Andreas Ilves, who
is World Cup athlete Kristjan Ilves's brother, won
ahead of Germany's Nick Siegmund and Wille Karhumaa
who set the fastest cross-country time with 14:36.6,
improving from an 18th to a third rank. Ozbej and
Rok Jelen from Slovenia completed the Top Five.