Nordic Combined: the 2024/2025 World Cup about to get underway
The 2024/2025 Nordic Combined World Cup kicks off this Thursday at midday with the reserve jumps on the inaugural stage in Ruka (Finland). Reserved for men only, this first weekend will include an individual compact, a gundersen and a mass-start to kick off hostilities in all formats.
France can field up to six athletes this season. .. but only Laurent Muhlethaler, Mattéo Baud, Marco Heinis and Edgar Vallet will be taking part in Finland. “The idea is to bring competitive athletes,” Etienne Gouy, director of the French Nordic combined teams, tells Nordic Magazine.
As for the winter objectives, they are ambitious. “Laurent Muhlethaler, who injured his ribs at the start of October but is coming back well, and Mattéo Baud will be the leaders, explains the boss of the discipline. Even if it’s always difficult to give pure results targets, regularly finishing in the top 10 seems to me to be a good thing… with the ambition of returning to the podiums as they did two seasons ago. What’s more, Marco Heinis, whose qualities on the springboard are well known, is coming on strong on his cross-country skis.”
Podium goal for Léna Brocard
On the women’s side, who will be competing in Lillehammer (Norway) in a week’s time, Léna Brocard from Dauphiné will once again be taking part in the World Cup.
“This season, her objective is clearly to finish on the podium, says Etienne Gouy. She’s been circling it for a while, so it would be good to make it happen. To achieve that, the first step will be to regularly finish in the top 6.”
Marion Droz-Vincent and Romane Baud, the next generation of skiers, will begin their international winter before Christmas at the FESA Cup in Seefeld (Austria). “We’ll then take them to the World Cup with the aim of fielding a mixed team at the Worlds,” says the French manager.
- Ruka: the French team selection for the first stage of the World Cup
- Two broken ribs for Laurent Muhlethaler
- Carpentry studies, inspired by Léna Brocard and Joséphine Pagnier, more of a cross-country skier than a jumper: who is Marion Droz-Vincent, newcomer to the French B team?
- Romane Baud on her first World Cup selection: “A nice surprise”.
