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Press release 14^th January 2021

VAL DI FIEMME ON FIRE FOR THE NORDIC COMBINED WORLD CUP
COMPETITIONS IN PREDAZZO AND LAGO DI TESERO

Tonight at 7 p.m. the provisional competition round from the normal hill in Predazzo 
On Friday the first Individual Gundersen HS104/10 km
On Saturday the Team Sprint 2x7.5 km and on Sunday the second Individual Gundersen HS104/10 km
Federico Rigoni: “I hope they will jump without any worries or fears as they did during the training jumps”
Alessandro Pittin and Samuel Costa: “We know the hill in Predazzo and the tracks in Lago di Tesero like the back of our hands”

The countdown is over. Val di Fiemme is ready for an exciting weekend of racing with three FIS Nordic Combined World Cup events that will be staged in Predazzo and Lago di Tesero. Tonight at 7 p.m. the normal hill in the Ski Jumping Stadium in Predazzo has hosted the provisional competition round. The brothers Akito and Yoshito Watabe were able to obtain the best results. Behind the Japanese siblings came the Norwegian Espen Bjoernstad and Jarl Magnus Riiber who occupied the third and fourth position in the standings. 
“On our last training camp, the athletes trained well showing good performances,” stated Federico Rigoni, technical director of the Italian Nordic combined team, confidently. “I hope they will jump without any worries or fears as they did during the training jumps.” Alessandro Pittin, top athlete of the Italian team, wants to do well in Val di Fiemme: “We know the hills in Predazzo very well, the cross-country courses in Lago di Tesero are very gruelling. It’s important to be in the top 20 after the jump.” Samuel Costa too is looking forward to the races: “We know the hills in Predazzo and the tracks in Lago di Tesero like the back of our hands, and I like them more and more year after year. I really love competing here.” Costa makes his prediction: “Vinzenz Geiger is the favourite”. The other Italians who will be competing this weekend are Aaron Kostner, Raffaele Buzzi, Giulio Bezzi, Stefano Radovan and Domenico Mariotti, with the latter two making their World Cup debut.
Norway’s Jarl Magnus Riiber is sitting at the summit of the overall standings (360 points), with the up-and-coming young Austrian Johannes Lamparter in second spot (265) and Germany’s Vinzenz Geiger third (251). Samuel Costa is the best Italian in the overall standings (23^rd with 45 points).
After the PCR, everyone will be focused on tomorrow’s Individual Gundersen with ski jump in Predazzo and cross-country-skiing in Lago di Tesero. The weekend in Val di Fiemme features a Team Sprint on Saturday 16 with ski jump in Predazzo in the morning and 2x7.5km in Lago di Tesero in the afternoon. On Sunday 17 there will be the second Individual Gundersen, same format of Friday’s race.
Info: www.fiemmeworldcup.com