It was January 7, 2022, when Val di Fiemme hosted a Nordic Combined competition in the Mixed Team format in the World Cup for the first time. Today, at the FIS Nordic Summer Festival, it was the turn of the summer variant of the Mixed Team to liven up the Ski Jumping Stadium of Predazzo and the streets of the centre of Ziano di Fiemme, in a sporting show that awarded Germany, dragged by the multiple-times champion  Johannes Rydzek with Julian Schmid, Jenny Nowak and Nathalie Armbruster.

Woman, man, man, woman: this was the order in which the mixed teams took turns this morning on the HS109 for the ski jumping fraction, which saw Austria I ahead of Germany I and Austria II in the provisional ranking for an all-German domination, with the three teams among the only ones to exceed 500 points in the standings. The applause of the public, the Slovenian fans singing ‘O sole mio’ as soon as the first rays of sunshine lit up the parterre in Stalimen, and the joy of having breakfast with a view of the hills at ‘Jump in the Breakfast’ enlivened the morning, which also saw a couple of falls during the landing phase, notably that of young Haruka Kasai (JPN), which saw the Japanese team finish at the bottom of the ski jumping rankings.

The mixed relay in the Roller-skiing fraction, then coloured the afternoon in the streets of Ziano di Fiemme, where a Johannes Rydzek in great shape completed the comeback against Austria I (Johannes Lamparter, Claudia Purker, Lisa Hirner and Stefan Rettenegger) that his teammates Julian Schmid, Jenny Nowak and Nathalie Armbruster had begun in their respective legs, with the team format consisting of 5 km for the men alternating with 2.5 km for the women. In a duel heated by the summer temperatures of the summer cross-country skiing capital, Rydzek celebrated with his arms raised in the air at the finish line. Second place went to Rettenegger and his teammates, who can console themselves with the best overall performance in the ski jumping fraction. Norway I put in a remarkable final Roller-skiing leg. After initially languishing in the middle of the ranking with Jens Luraas Oftebro, Marte Leinan Lund, and Ida Marie Hagen, Eimar Luraas Oftebro went wild in the final 5 km to grab an excellent 3rd place, relegating Austria II (Thomas Rettenegger, Katharina Gruber, Annalena Slamik and Paul Walcher) to the wooden medal after the Tyrolean team had long held on to third place.

Today, the FIS Nordic Summer Festival programme also included the Roller-skiing Team Sprint Mix and the eagerly awaited women's and men’s Individual competitions on the HS143 hill. The efforts of the local organising committee and its volunteers in the journey towards the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games continue in this exciting Test Event. There is no shortage of entertainment for enthusiasts, fans, locals and guests: at the Fiemme Party Tent, the evening will be lit up with live music from “Satomi Hot Night”, followed by a DJ set by FUN!LAB until late at night. The same venue, set up in Stalimen yesterday, celebrated the success of the FIS Nordic Summer Festival in the company of, among others, the President of the Autonomous Province of Trento, Maurizio Fugatti, and the CEO of Fondazione Milano Cortina 2026, Andrea Varnier.

Tomorrow will see the grand finale with the men's Individual Gundersen for the Nordic Combined, the Mass Start Roller-skiing race and the men's Super Team for Ski Jumping, as well as a rich programme of side events.

Nordic Combined Mixed Team 

1 Germany I 28:39.4 (Schmid Julian; Nowak Jenny; Armbruster Nathalie; Rydzek Johannes); 2 Austria I 28:41.1 (Lamparter Johannes; Purker Claudia; Hirner Lisa; Rettenegger Stefan); 3 Norway I 29:29.6 (Oftebro Jens Luraas; Leinan Lund Marte; Hagen Ida Marie; Oftebro Einar Luraas); 4 Austria II 29:42.3 (Rettenegger Thomas; Gruber Katharina; Slamik Annalena; Walcher Paul); 5 Slovenia 30:14.3 (Brecl Gasper; Volavsek Ema; Malovrh Tia; Vrhovnik Vid); 6 France 30:16.3 (Muhlethaler Laurent; Brocard Lena; Baud Romane; Tyrode Mael); 7 Finland 30:17.6 (Herola Ilkka; Korhonen Minja; Hirvonen Heta; Happonen Herman); 8 Germany II 30:45.3 (Thannheimer Wendelin; Loh Ronja; Loh Maja; Geiger Vinzenz); 9 Italy I 31:19.5 (Kostner Aaron; Pinzani Greta; Gianmoena Veronica; Costa Samuel); 10 United States Of America;31:22.7 (Loomis Benjamin; Malacinski Annika; Brabec Alexa; Malacinski Niklas)

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