The European Youth Olympic Festival 2022 took place from 20. – 26. March in Lahti (FIN).
Three competitions were in the program for the Nordic Combined athletes, including one Individual Gundersen for women and men as well as a Mixed Team event.
On 22nd March, the EYOF began for the Nordic Combined women with an Individual competition on the HS 100, followed by a 4 km cross-country race.
Italy’s Annika Sieff won the first Nordic combined Gundersen event at EYOF 2022. The Youth World Champion from Zakopane just three weeks ago, jumped 88 meters from the HS 100 hill and held the second place, starting the cross-country phase only two seconds behind the leader, Annalena Slamik from Austria.
The Italian held her own on the track and took the victory by a clear margin of 15 seconds.
“It was nice to get a good jump in the competition, because I had had trouble in the practice rounds. Although I was a favorite today, I tried to prepare myself and concentrate the same way as always”, Sieff thought.
Lisa Hirner from Austria bursted onto the track 21 seconds after her fellow Austrian Slamik. Hirner beat her by 19 seconds but there was no competition for bronze as the fourth-place finisher, Germany’s Magdalena Burger crossed the finish line over half a minute after Slamik.
The competition was high-level. Nordic Combined is a rather new sport for women and many of the top athletes are around 20 years old. For instance, the gold medalist Sieff was fifth in the overall World Cup standings this season and bronze medalist Hirner seventh.
Although Vuokatti is the center of the EYOF 2022, Nordic Combined and Ski Jumping races were held in Lahti.
Text: Topias Mikkonen / EYOF
